Convictions
by A Wanderer in the Snow
Summary: The beginning of the Marauders' penultimate year: how Remus coped, where Padfoot went wrong, why James matured, when Snape made a decision and Lily's realisation.
1. Prologue, Kings Cross

**King's Cross**

* * *

><p>The start of September was always particularly busy at Kings Cross; all the boarding schools began their terms that week. As a result, the first of September found the platforms and ticket offices flooded with young people. Schoolchildren heading away from home for the first time stuck close to parents, while older students forged through the crowds; looking for friends. Then there were all the regular travellers; businessmen, families, shoppers for a day in London, aunts and uncles going to visit relatives in the country: it was only too easy to get lost in the throng.<p>

Two boys stood out from even that multitude though; tall, dark-haired and tanned from several weeks on the Cornish coast. People who had met them before the summer would have said they were handsome; people who saw them now compared them to the sculpted Grecian statues in the British Museum. They drew admiring glances from several girls, as well as odd looks from other passers-by; one of the boys had an owl in a cage balanced on top of the loaded trolley he was pushing. Most of the crowd hurried past though; you could see stranger sights on the streets of London most days.

One girl, in particular, glanced at them over the top of the book she was reading as she waited for her train. She did a double take as one of them winked at her, but by the time she had looked up again, boys, trolleys and all had vanished. She was so busy looking round to see where they had gone that she completely missed the elderly; slightly oddly dressed couple following the boys suddenly disappear too.

After a while, still frowning at the phenomenon and wondering where they could possibly have gone, she went back to reading her book. Twenty minutes later she caught a train from Platform Ten, met up with some school friends and completely forgot about the handsome boy who had winked at her.

The two boys, however, had been about as far from the usual students who crowded Kings Cross as was possible. It was true that they went to a boarding school, indeed, they were just starting their sixth year, and like most students of that age they had just received exam results, but not O-levels. The main difference between them and the other students at the station was that they were not headed to any of the big boarding schools of Eton, Radley, Oundle or Winchester; they were headed to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	2. Chapter 1, Reunion

**Reunion**

* * *

><p>'Did you have to do that, Sirius, dear?' the elderly woman sighed, with the air of a mother who has long given up hope of controlling her children.<p>

They're just fooling about, Dorea,' the silver haired man replied indulgently as the boy his wife had just called Sirius laughed, 'Did you see her face! That's going to keep her thinking for a while.'

'Even so, Charlus; the Statute of Secrecy…'

But Mrs Potter's reply was lost as the two boys suddenly abandoned their luggage trolleys in favour of two other boys.

In every way that Mr and Mrs Potter's charges were similar; black hair, tall and athletic, looking for all the world like two brothers, the boys they confronted were entirely different. One, standing by a battered old trunk, neatly labelled Remus. J. Lupin, was as tall as the boys greeting him. He was brown-haired, thin and had the kind of hollowed out face of the half-starved; on him though it spoke of something slightly predatory in him. He smiled in response to the shout, 'Moony!' that was directed at him and clapped his friends on the back as they reached him; he too had the brown skin of someone of has spent many days on Cornwall's beaches.

The other boy was shorter and stouter, looking as though he had recently lost a lot of weight and wasn't quite sure of how to deal with his new appearance, but was all the healthier for it. He too had obviously been in the sun, but hadn't reacted well; he did have a ruddy, cheerful glow about him, however, as he greeted his friends.

In the meantime, Mr and Mrs Potter had taken charge of the boys' trunks and with the aid of wands taken from their robes, levitated all four and the other miscellaneous items they had arrived with onto the train. They placed them in an empty compartment and retreated to the platform to join the conversation of two other adults.

The four friends were greeting each other with all the enthusiasm that two weeks of separation brings. They had agreed on the separation months before, in the aftermath of taking their Ordinary Wizarding Level exams, or O.. The long-haired boy, Sirius Black, who had winked at the girl, had suggested it, saying, 'Otherwise we'll have bugger all to talk about…'

The others had agreed and in a fit of inspiration, the short boy, Peter Pettigrew, had furthered this by suggesting that they not even tell each other their exam results. James Potter had then leapt on this idea, going so far as to begin a betting circle among them as to who would get what results. Now each had varying sums of money on their own and each other's results; the last week had been building an odd tension as they wondered just how much they had lost and gained.

Peter quietly worried about the amount he had bet, and wondered how he was going to pay if he lost. Typically, he had been persuaded into offering more money than he actually had and wondered what sort of forfeit might be in order if he couldn't pay up. Something horribly embarrassing probably, he scuffed his shoes, glanced worriedly at his fingernails and looked up at the other boys.

James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were all tall, good-looking, intelligent and to many outsiders it seemed that Peter didn't belong with the rest of them. Beside them he was painfully average at best. Many assumed it was simply because all four were in the same House that they remained friends at all.

People often wondered where the four nicknames they had bestowed upon each other came from too. Remus was 'Moony', James was 'Prongs', Sirius was 'Padfoot' and Peter was called 'Wormtail'. Collectively they were usually referred to as 'The Marauders' by the school population; students and staff alike. This was due to their reputation as the worst trouble-makers the school had ever seen.

What these individual nicknames meant, and their origin was a mystery to everyone they knew. Indeed, it was just one question in a list of many that people would have liked to ask them. But The Marauders didn't answer questions like that.

The four finished their greetings and wandered back to where their respective parents now stood, chatting amid the clouds given off by the scarlet steam engine at the platform edge. Peter went to stand by his Mother, Remus to his Dad, while James and Sirius stood either side of Mrs Potter, like two protective sons. No one said anything about Sirius' parents' absence.

'Thank you and Elizabeth, for looking after the boys over the summer, John, I hope they weren't _too_ much hassle!' James' mother was saying as they arrived and they all grinned at the shared memories.

Mr Lupin's, 'Not at all!' was lost as a shrill whistle sounded from the steam engine at the front of the train, on which was emblazoned, '_The Hogwarts Express_'.

'Oh, Merlin! Is that the time already?' Mrs Potter cried, glancing up at the huge station clock in disbelief. She sniffed suddenly and pulled both James and Sirius into a tight hug, 'Do try to stay out of trouble this year, boys,' she whispered tearfully.

'And keep Sirius away from those girls!' Mr Potter warned loudly, causing a burst of laughter. Sirius had the decency to look slightly embarrassed as he shook hands with James' father.

Mr Lupin had one last thing to add though, 'That reminds me! Apparently a pretty young thing, called Hazel, stopped Lizzy in the street the other day. She was asking whether you lot would be back next summer?'

More delighted laughter followed this and John Lupin ruffled his grinning son's hair as he climbed onto the train. They pulled down a window and waved as the train shuddered and began to move, then they were out of the station and heading North through London.

* * *

><p>James turned to his friends with a grin, 'So… let's take a seat, then you can hand over your money!'<p>

Sirius snorted as they stepped into their compartment, 'You claiming Divination talent again, Prongs?'

'Yeah, well, you know me, didn't even need to take the exam,' James replied with an easy smile, taking a seat and resting his feet on the one opposite.

'Moony, bets!' Sirius ordered as he lay across the seat on which James' feet were resting, taking most of that side of the compartment so that Peter was left a tiny gap between the door and James' feet. A passing girl stopped to watch as Sirius flicked his hair out of his eyes and shuffled comfortably. Remus watched her out of the corner of his eye from where he lounged in the corner, wondering how long it would be before she realised that they were all watching her. Eventually the girl noticed that the conversation had ceased and blushed brightly before vanishing from sight.

Then Remus turned and raised an eyebrow at Sirius who realised his error, 'Oh, sorry mate; too used to having those Cornwall girls hanging about, maybe we should have invited that one in?'

All four laughed at the memories Black's words conjured; they had spent most of the summer at Remus' house near Wadebridge. In recent years, Remus had seen Muggles on the beaches swimming out on planks to ride the waves back in to the beach. He'd asked his Mum about it; being a Muggle she knew a lot more about that kind of thing than he did. She said it was called 'surfing'. So after O. had finished he explained the idea to his friends, who promptly told him he was an idiot.

So Remus had changed his approach; he told Sirius that just as many girls did it as boys, athletic girls… he also told James that it required skill, balance and fitness; implying that James might not be up to it.

So the three descended on Wadebridge; dragging a protesting Peter with them, having told him that the sun and exercise would be good for him. Remus procured 'boards' for them and they found a secluded spot to begin their initiation.

Clad only in what Remus called 'surf shorts' and Mr Lupin's Warming charms, they plunged into the North Atlantic, having spent a few minutes watching more experienced 'surfers' further down the coast. Typically, within minutes James was up and cresting waves as though he had been doing it for years; he said it stemmed from his "innate Quidditch talent and general awesomeness". In fact, after a couple of hours the only real difficulty they were having was trying to keep Peter from toppling off his board. Sirius suggested tying his feet to it, but Remus pointed out that the board would turn upside if he fell off, which could present Peter with some issues.

A couple of days later they James decided that they all had enough experience to join the wetsuit clad Muggles shivering in the freezing water. They instantly stood out among the waves as being the only not wearing wetsuits and there was instant commotion on the beach as they plunged into the waves. Were these boys from some even colder, Scandinavian country or just crazy?

Still, by the time the tide had dropped and they abandoned the water to rest in the sun, they had a small crowd of admirers. Among this crowd were several young ladies, all wondering who was going to get the first case of pneumonia, but they eyed the boys just as keenly as the boys eyed them back.

'But how do you stay warm?' one girl asked as they walked up the beach, boards tucked under their arms, or in Peter's case being dragged along behind him. She laid a provocative hand on Sirius bare chest, 'Oh my God! You're like a radiator!' she cried as she felt the Warming Charm and instantly mistook it for body heat.

Anyone else would have been lost for words trying to explain such a phenomenon, but these four boys were renowned for their ability to provide instant and extravagant alibis.

'We've got insanely fast metabolisms,' Sirius replied with a shrug as the girls crowded round even Peter to feel these 'hot' guys.

What Remus said next though, made their summer, 'Unfortunately though it's a genetic disorder; eventually our bodies will just burn themselves out. We go to a special clinic near London for help, but it'll be a miracle if any of us reaches thirty. So we're enjoying ourselves while we can,' he said with the tragically calm air of someone who is already resigned to his fate as the girl's gasped around them.

* * *

><p>'Oi, Moony, enough daydreaming!' James said, nudging his vacant eyed friend with an elbow, 'I'm sure Louisa will be back next summer!'<p>

Despite himself, Remus grinned at James' sally and replied, 'And she'll be missing me till then.'

'Whoa, Moony! You'd better stop that or you'll end up like Padfoot!'

'And the problem with that would be?' Sirius asked casually, resting his hands behind his head and putting his feet or Peter's knees.

'Do you know how much dog biscuits cost these days?' James riposted and was rewarded with a burst of laughter.

James knew his friends too well; he could tell what any of them was likely to be thinking at any time and it was only too obvious Remus was remembering long legs, sun-bleached hair and warm, brown eyes. Now though, Remus was pulling a scrap of parchment from his jeans pocket before saying solemnly, 'Now, no crying when I win everything, ladies.'

The next half an hour was spent working out who owed who money.

True to form, Sirius beat them all with his exceptional memory and got six 'Outstanding's, Remus pulled a close second with five and James only felt slightly as though he had let himself down when he announced, 'Four O's, five E's.'

'That's what you get for playing too much Quidditch!' Peter piped up suddenly; he had really come out of his shell over the summer. Sirius said it was all the female attention, but James reckoned it was the weight loss.

'And staring at Evans all day,' Sirius added as he accepted a handful of coins from James.

'Every day.' Remus finished helpfully.

James looked affronted, 'You can never play too much Quidditch!' he replied haughtily, knowing only too well that the second statement had an uncomfortably true ring to it.

It was a well-known fact that four elements governed James' life; excitement, food, Quidditch and Lily Evans, not necessarily in that order. Sirius often said that if Evans appeared in a bikini, on a broomstick, bearing a treacle tart; James' head would probably explode. Remus often said that the likelihood of that ever happening was nil.

It turned out, in the end, that Peter had actually won the most with an uncharacteristically good grade. Before the exams, Sirius had offered him fifteen to one odds that he couldn't get an Outstanding in any of his exams. Peter had given him two galleons and in an unprecedented coup had got an O in Transfiguration, making himself thirty galleons in the process.

'You cheeky little sod!' Sirius exclaimed as he handed over most of the contents of his moneybag, 'When did you get so clever?'

'About the same time you were offering fifteen to one odds that an Animagus couldn't get an O in O.W.L Transfiguration,' Peter replied, looking smug as he counted his earnings and handed five galleons to James and Remus in payment for his own debts.

'And that, boys, is what two and a half years of becoming illegal Animagi gets you,' James rounded off, 'Oh, and several werewolf bites…'

'Carry on like that and I'll bite you properly next time!' Remus warned as he hastily recast the Muffling charm they had put on their compartment, just in case. He hated them talking about his condition, but he was used to it and joked along with them; it wasn't like they were trying to hurt his feelings or anything, it was just what they did.

'Awh, he's so cute when he says things like that!' Sirius said in his best little girl's voice.

'I seem to remember I sent you off howling last time, Padfoot,' Remus replied with a lopsided grin.

'Yeah, well it bloody hurts when some great mon- beast bites you on the tail!'

The whole compartment seemed to darken for a second and something flickered across Remus' face as Sirius almost said the one word that Remus loathed.


	3. Chapter 2, The Werewolf's Tale

**The Werewolf's Tale**

* * *

><p>Remus Lupin had once been a normal child, as normal as any child with a Wizard for a father and a Muggle for a mother could be. He liked picture books, playing in the sand and paddling in the small stream that ran past the bottom of the garden.<p>

One day, though, his father came home from his apothecary visibly shaken and told his wife he had been threatened by a man named Greyback. This man, and several of his cronies, had entered Lupin's Apothecary and demanded that John Lupin hand over all of the money that was on the premises. Mr Lupin refused, threatening to call the Law Enforcement squads. Greyback had laughed, shrugged and simply said, 'I know where you live, Lupin, heard you've got a little boy too. It would be a shame if anything happened to him.'

Then he had grinned, showing overly large canines and swept out of the door without a word. John Lupin was a brave man, but Greyback had just made an explicit threat against his family.

* * *

><p>Fenrir Greyback was not your average thug, or even your average magical criminal; he had a curse that was recorded as far back as civilisation. Once a month, at the full of the moon, man became creature. He transformed into a beast neither human nor animal, crazed with a thirst for human blood. In short, he was one of the most vicious werewolves Britain had ever seen.<p>

Most werewolves couldn't be recognised offhand, unless a very sharp observer was able to spot incredibly subtle signs; unexplained illnesses around full moon, odd mood swings and few other personality disorders. Greyback was an exception, even Muggles were frightened of a man who actively embraced the animal side; he grew his fingernails long, like claws, filed his canines into sharper points and seemed to know little of personal hygiene. He also enjoyed a habit of trying to infect as many others with his curse as he possibly could. Every full moon he would position himself near an isolated house or hamlet and seek out a target. He specialised in children.

He was a dangerous man to refuse, if you could call him a man.

* * *

><p>Despite John and Elizabeth Lupin's best efforts to protect their young son, a year later they awoke in the night to smashing glass, terrifying roars and the screaming of their baby boy. Remus Lupin was rushed to hospital as Aurors arrived at the house, but Greyback had vanished and the Healers at St. Mungo's Hospital of Magical Maladies and Injuries said nothing could be done, that it was already too late.<p>

Werewolves had been shunned for centuries by people who neither understood, nor cared for the beings that they considered neither human nor animal. But now John and Elizabeth found they had one as a son. Word spread of the horrifying attack and many were sympathetic, but gradually fewer people began to visit Lupin's Apothecary. Eventually John closed it, renting out the property to a small Menagerie owner. Lizzy got a job as a Muggle secretary, but there was little money to be made.

John became obsessed with finding a cure for his young son and began to spend every extra galleon they had on furthering that cause. None of the potions, amulets or strange pills he bought made the slightest bit of difference though.

At the same time, little Remus Lupin had no idea of what had happened to him; he had been attacked by a terrifying monster and spent a day or so in hospital, but then he was taken home.

For a month John and Elizabeth prayed that the Healers had been wrong as they woke night after night to hear their little boy screaming at the nightmares that plagued him.

Even so, at the end of the month, they took their son down to the cellar they had had built and locked him on the other side of a thick, oak door. Then they listened as the pitiful, confused crying became screams of pain and finally howls of rage.

All the while Lizzy knelt, sobbing, in front of the cellar door, asking God what they had done to deserve such a fate; what an innocent child could have possibly done. John, however, sat rigid in an armchair by the window, gripping the key to the cellar so tightly in his hand that by morning it had cut deeply into his palm.

When the sun rose Elizabeth prised the key from her husband's fist, barely noticing the blood in her haste to rescue her baby boy and unlocked the cellar door with shameful apprehension, unsure of what she would find on the other side. She found her child, curled in a corner, shivering, bleeding and terrified. She pretended not to notice the way he flinched away from her and carried the little boy upstairs as she tried to comfort fears that could not assuaged.

* * *

><p>Years passed like this, and the Lupins began to give up hope of ever having a normal life.<p>

Until, one day, a man named Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry appeared on their doorstep. He came to offer the now ten year-old Remus a place at his school, provided necessary precautions were taken.

So, on the First of September, 1960, Lizzy and John put their son on the Hogwarts Express, said goodbye and left early. It was to be put about that Mrs Lupin had a long term incurable illness and that Remus would be allowed to go home once a month to see her. In reality, at full moon, he would be spirited away to a safe environment for him to transform, later the School Matron would look after him until he could return to classes.

* * *

><p>On the train that day, Remus met three other boys, with whom he was sorted into Gryffindor House, along with a fourth boy. The fourth boy, David Gudgeon, left during the first term after an unfortunate accident while they were playing a game. The three other boys became Remus's dorm-mates and it took them a year to work out what Remus really was.<p>

Instead of shunning him, as most would have done, James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew swore never to tell another soul. They also made another promise, one that Remus never set much stock by; that they would help find a cure or a way make Remus' monthly transformation bearable.

Remus told them bitterly that finding a cure was impossible, to which a young James Potter replied belligerently, 'Then we'll find _some_ way to help.'

* * *

><p>By Christmas of their Second Year the four boys probably knew more about werewolves than any other person in the castle; pupil or staff. It wasn't until Easter, however, as they poured over books on werewolves in the Restricted Section of the library by night with the aid of James' invisibility cloak, that James had an epiphany.<p>

'Werewolves are only dangerous to humans, right?'

'Yup,' Black replied, yawning widely.

'So… we need to become… unhuman?'

'What? Like transfigure yourself into a bush?' Remus asked in confusion.

'No!' James replied excitedly, suddenly remembering the first lesson of the year when Professor McGonagall had transformed into a cat right in front of them, 'We become-'

'Animagi!' Sirius finished as he caught on.

Remus had frowned at them, 'But Professor McGonagall said it's incredibly difficult, and you need to register, and you're well underage, and-'

But James cut him off with an offhand wave, 'So?'

'It's-'

'We're the best in our year!' James flowed on enthusiastically; he was under no illusions that he and Sirius, at least, could do a quarter of the work anyone else did and still get top grades. He was also the youngest person in the school to be playing on a Quidditch team at that time, admittedly only by a few months, but the youngest all the same.

Peter, realising his lack of magical ability, began to look worried as James bounded on, 'We won't register and no one else needs to know!'

Remus continued to protest, but a week later no books remained in the library on Animagi. They had even managed to procure a note from Professor Slughorn for the Restricted ones, in exchange for Sirius attending at least two 'Slug Club' parties. Something that Sirius had been incredibly unwilling to do, but they had found no other way to get hold of the Restricted books for a good amount of time, and Slughorn had been asking Sirius almost every lesson since First Year.

They had imagined that becoming Animagi would be like their usual Transfiguration they did in class, only on themselves, more complex and a lot harder. However, they were amazed to find that they wouldn't even need a wand. They almost abandoned the project when they read that it would take them approximately five years to complete the transformation. The boys' hopes faded as Sirius read those words aloud to the others in their dorm, but later that night James took Sirius and Peter aside, 'I know what it said in the book, but we made a promise and I know we won't break it. I'd rather be bitten too, and join Remus that way than leave him alone every time full moon comes around. He's trusted us to keep his secret, and I'll be a Slytherin before I let a friend down.'

Sirius and Peter had been surprised by this outburst, but Sirius looked into his friend's eyes and saw only truth. Sirius realised something incredible at that moment; in front of him was a boy who would do anything for his friends, anything. He had never met anyone like James Potter; his own family was as different from James' as could possibly be imagined. Sirius realised also, that that sort of friendship was extended to him too, and he vowed that he would return it to the hilt.

The next day they began their studies in the art of the Animagi; any amount of time and sacrifice would be worth it to help a friend.

* * *

><p>There was almost no physical magic involved other than the actual transformation itself, which was, in fact, a tiny part of the whole process. The whole concept revolved around knowing their own minds intimately; seeing themselves as others saw them and knowing without any illusions what they truly were. Once they had 'discovered' themselves they would be able to select from a few animals that might correspond to their human nature. The closer the representation, the easier the transformation would be. Once an animal was chosen, it would need to be studied. Then, and only then, if they could sum up the concentration, mental strength and self-belief, would they be able to complete the transformation itself.<p>

They also realised that people would probably notice their distracted minds and likely drop in grades, so they came up with a plan. Remus, who wouldn't be undergoing the process, would help Peter, the least clever, with his work, while Sirius and James would have to fend for themselves and help Peter with the transformation. To cover all this 'extra-curricular work' up, they invented an extra persona; they began calling themselves 'The Marauders' and pulling pranks and stunts on people. First it was just the odd Slytherin exploding book-bag, but they found themselves falling deeper into it and showers of luminous water balloons would fall from the ceiling of the Great Hall when it was raining. Of course, they had to have background to this; they took it in turns to search the castle by night for secret passageways and Remus spent hours looking up references to forgotten passages and hidden rooms, when he wasn't helping Peter.

They started getting into more trouble than before, but their trouble-making gave them lists of excuses for being tired, worse grades, strange afflictions and myriad other minor problems. Had anyone really known what was going on, they would have realised that the four were incredibly mature and advanced for their age. Of course, no one did realise what was going on; they saw a group of young boys, who were using their extraordinary talents for fun rather than schoolwork.

It took them a year and a half before they had all decided that they knew themselves well enough to consider the next step, and each discovered surprising things about themselves in that time. By the start of their Fourth Year they began to look at potential animals. By Easter they had chosen their forms, and began to seriously think about taking the final step.

At the beginning of their Fifth Year they achieved what they had set out to do two and a half years before. James became a magnificent stag; Sirius a great, shaggy dog; and Peter, a shifty-looking rat.

Their first transformations did not go smoothly though; for several hours one night Sirius was left with a paw instead of a hand before he calmed down enough to make it revert to its natural shape. Peter actually sported a rat's tail for a whole Sunday after his first attempt before he managed to get rid of it. James, however, had lost a whole change of clothes; upon transforming back into a human, he found, to his astonishment, that his clothes had vanished somewhere in the process, much to his embarrassment. He never found out what had happened to them.

They also had to learn to operate their new forms; walking on four, differently jointed limbs was an entirely new experience and it was several hours before either James or Sirius managed their first tentative steps. Peter, being that much closer to the ground, didn't need to worry quite so much about balance and limb control, neither of which he was particularly good at, even in his human form. A tail was an experience in its own right and they were often left with the feeling that something was missing when reverted back to their natural shapes.

However, the real test came when they went to meet Remus, who they had taken to calling 'Moony', in his transformed state, for the first time. Each was terrified of being mauled and killed, but with trembling steps and a promise ringing in his ears, James led the way through the hidden tunnel below the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack where Remus stayed at full moon.

* * *

><p>Six months later they were leaving the shack and exploring Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest and the nearby hills by the light of the full moon.<p>

Only Remus' parents ever knew that the other three boys knew their son was a werewolf, and far from being fearful; they were thankful for it. They had seen the changes in their son over the years; how he had accepted his life, how he no longer tore himself apart at every full moon. But even they never knew the lengths the four had gone to.

Where once Remus Lupin had been a shy boy, terrified of his own shadow; he was now a forthright young man, who had accepted the hand that Fate had dealt him.


	4. Chapter 3, Propositions

**Propositions**

* * *

><p>Fortunately the awkward moment passed as James hurriedly changed the subject on to lighter matters, 'Padfoot and I were wondering what we were going to do this year.'<p>

'What do you mean?' Peter asked.

'Well, First Year we spent figuring out Moony's "furry little problem",' Sirius began.

'Second, Third and Fourth was Animagi,' James continued.

Remus could see their logic, 'And Fifth was taking advantage of that,' he finished.

'So…' James said, with the nonchalant air of someone about to suggest rearing a dragon in their dorm, 'You remember Wormy's map, right?'

'Yeah,' Remus answered cautiously, wondering where this could be leading.

'It's in my trunk, I think…' Peter added helpfully, creasing his brow in a worried frown.

James was speaking of the map that Peter had drawn in First Year to help him find his way to lessons. Begun as a sketch for Peter to follow, it was now covered in helpful little notes like passwords for secret passageways, Filch's usual patrol routes and which staircases weren't available on certain days. Over the years, the Marauders had added to it, marking down disused classrooms, likely hiding spots and secret passageways they stumbled across or discovered. It was now quite a detailed plan of the castle, and one of their most prized secrets and possessions; along with James' invisibility cloak and their Animagi abilities.

'Well,' James said, slightly hesitantly.

Remus' face immediately fell; James was never, ever hesitant.

'We thought we could improve it.'

'What do you think we've been doing for the last five years?' Remus asked with a sigh of relief and slight confusion.

'We've added to it. But Padfoot and I had a couple of ideas in the last few weeks, like; what if it could show people?'

'We would be virtually untraceable, undetectable and we wouldn't have to waste time on stupid detentions.' Sirius erupted with gleeful anticipation.

'We also wanted a password put on it,' James added.

'We've already got a password.'

'We want one that can't be broken.'

'That's impossible.'

'No, it's not. We had a few ideas about that too.'

'Oh, Merlin! I thought we might have a quiet year…'

'Why?' Sirius asked, looking mortified.

Remus bit his bottom lip, his would never be a quiet life it seemed, no matter how hard he tried, 'Ok, then, how do you intend going about this?'

Sirius' eyes lit up; Remus was going to accept the plan and James had just got that determined look in his eye. Peter, typically, looked a little apprehensive.

'Right,' James started, before launching into an explanation, 'you remember back in Fourth Year, when we trying to find the entrance to that room at the top of the South-west Tower? The one with the glass walls? Yeah? Well, while we were looking up stuff about it, me and Padfoot came across some ancient relic about the castle wards…

Deadly boring stuff, but there was some interesting bits on ward theory and what had been placed around the castle. If we can find out enough about the wards, I reckon we could either set up our own, or somehow link the map into the existing ones, since they basically monitor who's in the castle.'

'That sounds pretty far out, Prongs,' Remus replied sceptically.

'Course it does,' Sirius replied with a grin, 'that's because we're doing it. If it was anyone else, it would be impossible,' his grin broadened, 'for us; it's merely difficult. Besides, it could just be a matter of tapping into the old wards.'

'Some of those wards are almost a thousand years old, Padfoot,' Remus said, 'They were put down by the Founders themselves! You can't just "tap into them"!'

'Why not? And if we can get one up on old Sleazyzar Slytherin, then even better!' Sirius replied and Peter chuckled.

If anyone passing the compartment managed to break through the enchantments the four boys regularly cast to keep their conversations private, they would have been excused for the thinking them mad. First of all; what kind of sixteen year-old boys could claim to be Animagi, and secondly; who thought they could possibly alter the ancient, powerful wards surrounding the castle they called a school. The boys though, had, in fact, already done the former and were now seriously thinking of applying themselves to the latter.

They were deep in discussion when Remus suddenly clapped a hand to his forehead, saying, 'Oh Merlin, I completely forgot about the Prefect's Meeting!'

With that, he stood and hurried out the door towards the front of the train. Sirius watched him go with parently concern then said with an emotional sniff, 'I don't where we went wrong with him, I had such high hopes for the boy… and now…. His manners, not even a goodbye kiss,' he wiped an invisible tear from his eye.

* * *

><p>Remus, on the other hand, was rushing down the train corridor, avoiding discarded trunks and pushing past groups of chattering lower years. He reached the compartment at the very front of the train and slipped inside, murmuring apologies to the Head Boy and Girl as he took the set beside his fellow Gryffindor Prefect. The pretty, red-headed girl raised an inquiring eyebrow. Remus had however, already formed an expression of polite interest and was listening intently to the Heads' words as if he had been there all along.<p>

The two sat through an unnecessary and long-winded explanation of their duties, which had already been explained to them in a letter from the school over the holidays. They had also been Prefects the year before, but no one seemed to be taking any no notice of that, apparently irrelevant, fact.

Eventually, just as the limits of even Remus' patience were beginning to fray, they were dismissed, but to Remus' annoyance he was put on corridor duty first, with the girl he had sat next to, Lily Evans. He gave a heavy sigh and rose to his feet, but instead of heading out into the corridor he went to chat to the other Prefects in his year. He was, after all, a Marauder and wasn't about to spend any more time on duty than was strictly necessary.

Caradoc Dearborn and Marlene McKinnon were Ravenclaws; Stanley Broadmore and Francis Treaton were both Hufflepuffs. Few of the Slytherins talked to other houses, but Remus received a nod and respectful, 'Lupin,' from Evan Rosier as he sloped out. All too soon though, Lily Evans was tugging him away from the crowd and out into the corridor to start patrol. Remus always thought that she took school a bit too seriously; of course, it was important but things like patrolling the train corridors were more of an extra rather than a necessary duty. They were to patrol for the next hour together, so Remus matched Lily's pace and they proceeded slowly down the corridor.

'How was your holiday, Remus?' she asked as they passed compartments, eyeing the occupants suspiciously. Or rather, Lily eyed them suspiciously while Remus barely allowed them a glance. Even in his rush to reach the Prefect's Meeting, he had noted where the likely troublemakers might be; the prime suspects were holed up in the compartment he had left half an hour before.

'It was really good actually!' he replied with a smile, 'We stayed at my house for most of it; relaxed on the beach and stuff,' he pretended not to notice the slight pursing of lips when he said "we" and carried on, 'How about you?'

'Oh, the usual,' she replied breezily, 'stayed at home mostly, it was nice not to have holiday work for a change! Met up with Alice and Dorcas a few times, and stayed with Laura for a week or so.'

'Sounds good,' Remus nodded, motioning for the girl his best friend admired so much to keep talking.

'And my sister got engaged…'

'Congratulations!' Remus said brightly.

'Hardly,' Lily replied with uncharacteristic bad grace.

'Oh, yeah; you don't really get on with her, do you?'

It was hardly a worthwhile question. Last year, Fifth Year, he and Lily had been made Prefects to James and Sirius' infinite delight.

'Who in their right mind would make you a Prefect?' James had laughed as Sirius choked on a piece of cake stolen from Mrs Potter's kitchen.

'That's brilliant!' Sirius crowed as he finally swallowed, spraying crumbs everywhere, 'We'll never have to do detention again!'

As a result they had spent many hours on duty together, patrolling the castle; of which James had been very jealous. Now though, Remus probably knew her better than any other boy at Hogwarts; Lily had never really had boyfriends, odd things seemed to happen to them. Remus had at one time suspected James of taking his obsession with her too far, but James had proved his innocence and claimed that it was fate.

Consequently, they knew each other quite well and enjoyed each other's company, or so Lily thought. Certainly, they both enjoyed the time they spent together, but if someone had asked Lily about Remus Lupin, she would have been hard pressed to come up with an answer. She knew he lived in Cornwall, he was a half-blood, he went home once a month to see his sick mother and that he had some kind of pet at home, probably a kneazle or a crup, that Black and Potter always made out to be quiet mischievous. Other than that, he hung out with 'The Marauders' at school, spent a fair amount of time in the library and actively supported the Gryffindor Quidditch team, which Black and Potter were on.

If she were ever to really think about it, she would have realised that he was a master at deflecting questions away from himself. As Sirius once said, "You could give my Father a run for his money when the Ministry asks him each year about his taxes." James just said that he'd make a great politician one day.

So, as they wandered down the train, stepping between carriages, Lily found herself telling him all about her sister's fiancée and how large, dull and generally unappealing he was. Vernon Dursley worked as an under-secretary for a large company called 'Grunnings', who made drills.

'-and that,' Lily concluded,' is pretty much the story of his life.'

'He sounds fascinating,' Remus replied ambiguously.

Lily looked up at him, trying to discern whether she had heard sarcasm or just expected it. She had never been able to tell if he was an incredibly nice person or simply didn't use the English language in the same way as other people. So to keep the conversation going she just asked, 'How's your Mum, by the way?' with genuine concern.

Remus hated lying, but for years it had been just another part of his life and the words came naturally, 'Not any worse, not any better. But when did you say your sister was getting married?'

'Next August; they've already started planning the wedding.'

'And you'll be a bridesmaid?'

'No, actually. Mum was quite upset; but you know what I've told you about Petunia… if she had her way she'd be telling her friends I was a distant cousin and I wouldn't even be going to the wedding,' replied with an odd sort of sigh, 'Still, at least I don't have to worry about stupid dress fittings and all that.'

Remus would have been forgiven for thinking that Lily wasn't a very 'girly' girl from what he had just heard. But he had been at school with her for five years; heard her complain about muddy Herbology lessons, rain making her hair frizzy and seen her spend hours looking at shoes in Hogsmeade. He put her lack of enthusiasm down to it being her _sister's_ wedding.

* * *

><p>Lily, though, was making light of what had been an awful couple of months for her at home. There had been arguments, tears and tantrums almost every day since Petunia announced she was engaged. Mr and Mrs Evans had been surprised, but that was nothing to what they were when their daughter then said that she didn't want Lily there at the wedding. The family had almost fallen apart. Mrs Evans almost had a fit at Petunia's selfishness and threatened to try and cancel the whole occasion. Thankfully, Lily's father had tactfully stepped in, sat his women down and, with huge amounts of patience, forced a compromise.<p>

Still, it had not been an easy summer; whereas before, the sisters would tolerate each other even with Petunia's snide remarks, now they couldn't be in the same room without an argument that would leave one in tears. Mealtimes had become incredibly tense affairs and more than once Mrs Evans had burst into tears at the table, over the rift between her two daughters.

Lily had gone to stay at her Gryffindor friends' houses for the remainder of the summer. Now she was happy to be heading back to school, asking Remus what subjects he was taking for N.E. and admitting that she had managed to get four O's in her results.

Just as they were approaching the end of their allotted hour they passed the compartment the Marauders were ensconced in, despite Remus' best efforts to delay their approach; the Marauders represented a lot of things that Lily despised. Oddly, though, to Lily's ears, it was silent as they approached. Then she remembered the 'Muffliato' charm that had become so popular at the end of last year and discovered the mysterious buzzing in her ears to prove that her guess was correct.

As they passed the door she saw the three discussing and gesticulating over a grubby sheet of parchment; they were obviously planning another of their ridiculous pranks. Lily decided immediately to put a stop to it.

She opened the door and stepped inside as Black stuffed the parchment out of sight; she had been right, they were up to something.

'Give it here, please, Black,' she said, holding out her hand.

'Give what?' he answered with an air of polite confusion.

'That piece of parchment you so obviously just stashed away,' she replied, narrowing her eyes and trying to quell the sudden irritation that flared up whenever she came across Black or Potter.

'I don't see a Prefect's badge, Evans. How do we know you haven't been given the sack over the summer?'

Lily looked down and almost swore; she hadn't changed into her school robes yet, 'That's ridiculous, Black, and you know it! So stop being so stupidly arrogant and hand it over.'

Black just looked at her, she could see a grin playing on the edges of his lips, 'Look who's being arrogant now, Evans; we _know_ Moony's a Prefect, ask him to confiscate it. Or rather don't; he knows what it is and hasn't nicked it, so why should you? Don't you trust dear Remus?'

"Dear Remus" did not look happy at suddenly being dragged into the argument and glared at Sirius from the doorway. But Lily was fed up of his games, 'Fine,' she spat, 'I'll trust Remus' opinion,' and with a harsh look at Remus, pushed past him.

She tried to storm off, but someone caught her arm and spun her round.

Potter had been oddly quiet throughout the whole exchange, staying in his seat and staring out the window. Now though, he was on his feet, beside her in the corridor, uncomfortably close even and she hadn't even seen him move.

'What do you want, Potter?' she asked in as disgusted a voice as she could muster.

'One thing, Evans, one thing,' he said, brushing against her arm as he raised a finger.

'NO!' she shouted up at his smiling face, 'I won't bloody well go out with you, Potter!'

'Fine,' he said with a shrug, 'Your loss Evans.'

'My loss? How is it my loss?' she tried to shout back, but he was gone and the compartment door was already sliding shut. She almost wrenched it open again to go in and point out the finer facts of life to him and his stupid friends, but with barely contained rage she spun on her heel and walked away.

Remus looked after her, then checked his watch and muttered, 'Guess duty's over anyway,' then he followed James back into their compartment.


	5. Chapter 4, QC

**Q.C**

* * *

><p>Lily reached her compartment and slumped into a seat by the window. The four other girls looked at each, grinned with long suffering cheerfulness and chorused, 'What's he done now?'<p>

Only one person could have put Lily in such a mood before they even got to Hogwarts.

'Continuing to be an insufferable berk,' Lily grumbled, not missing the grins for a moment. There were four other girls in her year in Gryffindor; Alice Yates, Laura Tavistock, Mary McDonald and Dorcas Meadowes. Lily loved them all, but her and Mary had always got on the best; probably because they were both Muggle-borns. Laura, Alice and Dorcas were all pure-bloods, but all five girls were good friends. Alice was forthright and as stubborn as you would expect of a Gryffindor, Laura was simple, but not stupid, she just didn't complicate things and Dorcas was the kind of person you couldn't help but like.

'I still don't see what your problem with him is, Lily,' Laura began, but Lily interrupted.

'Just because you used to share baths with him!'

Laura grinned at Lily's implication but, only confirmed it, 'When we were about two! Anyway, look at him now; he's handsome-'

'Arrogant.'

Laura stoically continued, 'Smart-'

'Lazy.'

'Athletic-'

'A bully.'

'Funny, kind-'

'Insufferable.'

'You've already said that, besides, if he wasn't so obsessed with you, Lily, I'd quite happily go out with him.'

The other girls stared at Laura while Lily scowled, but without passion, 'Go out with Black then; they're practically the same person.'

Laura swept back her auburn hair and looked unapologetic, 'Black's just a man-whore. But I know for a fact you used to fancy him, Dorcas, same goes for you, Mary, so stop pretending you agree with Lily.'

Mary huffed at her, but Dorcas smiled sweetly and said, 'Yes, but I could hardly start shagging a team-mate could I?'

Dorcas played Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, along with Black and Potter; she and Laura got on with them best out of any of the Gryffindor girls, who were torn between supporting Lily and laughing at the Marauders jokes.

Lily pretended to be sick at the thought, then had the last word, 'He's awful, and that's all I've got to say about it.'

Alice almost felt inclined to point out that each of Lily's arguments against James Potter had been neatly countered by Laura's but decided she didn't want Lily in a bad mood before the feast, so she left it. James had been pursuing Lily on and off since Third Year, about the time when Lily had come back after the summer and the boys had started noticing there were, in fact, girls in their year. He had though made the point that he could have any other girl he wanted; last year he had gone out and broken up with the Head Girl, two years above him. She had been in tears for weeks afterwards.

Alice had noticed that his relationships never tended to last more than a couple of weeks; Sophie Carson, the Head Girl had been the exception which lasted just over a month. Then he would be back to asking Lily out every couple of hours. Rumour had it that he was a fast mover though.

Dorcas, wise in boys' ways, having two older brothers, pointed out that it was a form of flattery. Obviously Potter could have his pick of girls, but he wanted Lily; the others weren't good enough.

Lily had replied that she didn't want to catch anything.

* * *

><p>'I take it she refused,' Sirius said as though James had never asked Lily out before.<p>

'It wasn't exactly the best timing,' Peter said to no one in particular.

'Yeah, Prongs, have you ever thought of trying a different approach?' Remus asked as he too slipped back inside.

'Like what?' James asked, 'We can hardly pull out the "oh, I'm dying of a genetic disease" approach, Moony,' he said glumly.

'Try out the other females pining after you,' Sirius suggested.

'Did that last year; look what I did to Carson…'

'At least she still writes,' Sirius grinned. James received a letter every month or so from the poor girl who seemed to have fallen in love with him, he replied out of politeness but it had stopped him from taking advantage of his good looks and popularity. Over the summer had been different of course; what went on in Cornwall, stayed in Cornwall. It was part of the unwritten code they shared.

'Other girls just aren't …'

'Evans?' Peter suggested.

'-what I'm looking for.' James finished.

'Stop being 'Potter',' Remus said suddenly.

'Yeah!' Sirius exclaimed, 'We'll disguise you as someone; someone hot, popular and awesome: me!'

'Padfoot, shut it. What are you on about, Moony?'

'I mean: stop being 'Potter' and be 'Prongs'.'

'You know, Moony, I never had Evans down as the bestiality type, but maybe that's her thing. I always wondered why she wouldn't go out with anyone.'

'Padfoot, SHUT UP!' the other three shouted.

'Fine…' he whined, 'just trying to keep the mood light; no need to get all shirty about it,' he sank back into his seat and stared out the door window, unnerving passing girls.

Remus tried to find the words to describe the idea that was suddenly bouncing around his head, 'What I mean is; stop being 'Potter': Quidditch player, smart-arse, girl's dream-'

'Captain, actually, now you mention it.' James said smugly.

'That's a prime examp-'

'WHAT!' yelped Sirius.

James pulled a shiny badge out of his pocket; it was emblazoned with the initials 'Q.C'.

'You didn't tell me! You let me believe that bloody Meadowes got it!' Sirius yelled, diving across the compartment to snatch at the badge, 'That's mine by rights!'

'Get your grubby paws off me, Padfoot!' James shouted, laughing as Sirius scrabbled at his closed fist. A second later they were rolling across the floor and Peter, sensing what was about to happen, quickly closed the blinds on the compartment door. Seconds later a huge, black dog was standing on James' chest.

'Get off me, you great brute!' James laughed as it worried the edge of his T-shirt.

'P… Padfoot! Control yourself!' Remus choked through laughter that threatened to overwhelm him.

James clambered to his feet as Padfoot snapped playfully at the air, and Peter warned, 'Prongs, there isn't room!'

'Wasn't going to anyway,' James said, holding the badge over his head and sticking out his tongue, 'Padfoot, as your Captain; if you ever attack me again, I'll throw you off the team!'

Suddenly Sirius was on his knees on the floor in front of him, 'You wouldn't dare!' he panted, appalled, 'You wouldn't win another match!'

'Let's not test that theory; though we could take the 'puffs any day of the week! Especially not after Diggory left last year.'

'Who's Ravenclaw's Captain this year?' Peter asked.

'Bet it's Quigley,' Remus answered quickly.

'Or Fenwick,' James said, 'and the Slytherins have still got Compton from last year. He did get them the Cup. Still, I reckon we could win it this year; just need a Goalkeeper, a Beater and a Seeker. I'm going to do try-outs next weekend; if we start early we can gel a team, get people up to scratch and then we'll be flying.'

* * *

><p>A few hours later; after an exhaustive discussion on Quidditch tactics between Sirius and James as Remus tried, once again, to teach Peter the finer points of Wizard's Chess, they climbed down from the horseless carriages outside the castle. James had his Quidditch Captain's badge firmly attached to his robes, despite Sirius' best efforts.<p>

All four of the boys were silent as they stepped down from their horseless carriage outside Hogwarts; they were back at school, they were the Marauders and they had a reputation to uphold. People were able to see them now, and they played up to their roles; the perfect distraction from the dark truth.

Sirius stepped down first and looked up the castle, surveying it with practised distain while looking carefully for any changes, and keeping an eye on one of the girls who had just got out of the carriage in front. Remus unfolded himself from his seat next and stepped down, keeping a mask of aloofness comparable to Sirius' to hide his grin; the sky was clear, the stars out and it was three weeks until the next full moon. Then Peter jumped down, a smug grin of anticipation plastered across his lips. James was last, taking his time. He stood on the gravel and ran a hand through his hair, then he took a deep breath of late summer evening air and said quietly, 'It's good to be back.'

He smiled, looked round to check they were indeed the last ones to arrive and bounded up the stairs to the Entrance Hall. It wouldn't do to be anything less than fashionably late, they were The Marauders after all.

* * *

><p>Lily waved to a couple of people as she took her usual seat at the Gryffindor table, as Alice gestured for a Seventh Year boy to come and sit beside them. Lily was ignoring the way Severus Snape was staring pointedly at her and instead caught the eye of Benjy Fenwick, a Ravenclaw. He grinned, winked and twitched his head towards a sandy haired boy who was watching Laura carefully; he looked similar to a girl in her year.<p>

She leant across to Dorcas and whispered, 'Who's that boy, a couple down from Benjy? The one staring at Laura?'

'Who's staring at me?' Laura asked, turning round to look.

The boy looked quickly away, and Laura was distracted as the Marauders made their entrance; they always seemed to be the last to arrive. Dorcas looked up and grinned; the Marauders were always worth watching in a spare moment, especially at occasions like this.

Black, Potter and Lupin swept into the hall, three abreast and each a model of their own personality; Black glanced around emotionlessly and nodded to a couple of people he deemed worthy of his attention. Potter, with the ghost of a smile playing about his lips and badge glittering on the lapel of his robes attracted a lot of attention as Dorcas exclaimed, 'I knew it! There was no way McGonagall would let Black captain the team!'

Lupin was beside them, and stalked into the room with an almost distasteful expression on his face and more than a few of the younger years flinched from his cruel gaze. Then the image was lost as he laughed and clapped Black on the back, but more than few were know watching them, waiting for something to happen. Lily could see several girls watching the three hungrily as they passed the Slytherin table.

'Wow,' breathed Mary, beside her, 'They look…'

They were tanned, calm and relaxed as they sauntered across the Hall; not a care in the world and confidence radiated off them in waves. Peter scurried in behind them, looking as though he had got lost or something between the front door and the Great Hall, he caught up with the others as Avery called from the Slytherin table, 'Too bad abou- Argh!'

One of the benches at the Slytherin table suddenly collapsed, spilling Sixth and Seventh Years across the floor but the Marauders hadn't even looked round. Gales of laughter broke out across the Hall and several of the teachers frowned, but no one had seen any magic being done; it could very well have been a simple coincidence.

'Hey, girls! Good summer?' Potter asked as they took seats just down from where Lily was sitting, 'Alright Frank? How's it going?' Then he looked up in surprise as though he had just realised something was happening at the Slytherin table.

Lily glared at him, knowing, like everyone else that the Marauders had somehow engineered the bench collapse, but unable to pin anything on them. Professor Slughorn was now reattaching the legs.

'Congrats, James, or should that be Captain now?' Dorcas said.

'Hey! Less of the flattery, Meadowes, you'll just make him worse!' the brown-haired Seventh Year Alice was sitting next to called down the table.

'Well, I take it that me and Sarah are still on the team?' she asked, fluttering her eyelashes shamelessly.

James gave her an appraising look, 'That would depend, Meadowes.'

'On what?' she blinked, surprised at his sudden seriousness.

'On how much you're willing to _do_ for the team,' he said and cracked a mischievous grin at her.

Dorcas grinned back, she had actually been worried for a second, but he was keeping up his usual flirtatious banter, 'Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of things we could _do_ for the team,' she said seductively and almost everyone nearby burst into laughter.

* * *

><p>Peter hung back in the Entrance Hall, just out of sight as the others marched inside, grabbing attention simply by being there. He moved to the edge of the doorway, crouched down, aimed and shot a low level Weakening charm at the end bench of the Slytherin table. Then he hurried after his friends, feigning being out of breath as he caught up with them and the bench broke behind them.<p>

Minutes later the new First Years were being led in; nervous anticipation strewn across the group and they lined up beside the stool that Flitwick had just brought in. Peter wasn't interested in that though; he was waiting for the feast to start and the pasty he had had at lunch seemed to have worn off hours ago. He didn't like this new diet plan that Remus had drawn up for him, but he was enjoying his new fitness; he wondered if anyone else might notice.

* * *

><p>'That one on the end could be fit in a few years' time,' Sirius said casually, looking at the line of First Years.<p>

'Black, are you checking out First Years?' Alice asked in disgust.

'Got to keep an eye on the talent,' he answered, completely unfazed by Alice's reaction, 'Lizzy Townley's not looking bad, and Harry Greene's been watching Laura like a hawk since we came in.' he added.

'That's who he is? I thought he looked like Tamsin!' Lily exclaimed, having only heard the last part.

'Tammy's got better breasts though.' Sirius said with a grin.

'You're such an arse, Black.'

'Love you too, Evans, you're just like my sister.'

Lily frowned in confusion, 'You don't have a sister, Black.'

'Fine, brother then, just cause he's called Regulus doesn't make him any less of a little girl,' Black replied contemptuously.

Lily was about to lecture him on the importance of family, but she something in Potter's eyes and the way Remus was ever so slowly shaking his head at her told her not to. She bit back her words and turned away to watch the Sorting as Professor McGonagall called for quiet and whispered to Mary, 'Wonder what the new Defense Teacher will be like? I can't see anyone new at the Top Table…'


	6. Chapter 5, Family Feeling

**Family Feeling**

* * *

><p>'The Ancient and Most Noble House of Black,' Sirius' father intoned, as though reading from a script rather than simply speaking to his eldest son, 'is more than just a name; it holds a reputation, values and purity in the upper echelons of our society.'<p>

Six year-old Sirius was bored; he much rather be playing with Regulus upstairs in his bedroom, and he wanted a slice of the cake he'd seen Kreacher putting in the oven that morning.

'The name alone holds respect in every_ reputable_ circle of society, but a name is nothing without action and a man to hold it. As the heir of the Black Family, you must never be seen to be anything less than the greatest of men; no one deserves your respect, you do not apologise to anyone, you do not show emotion; you are a Black and no one is better than you.'

Sirius tried to stifle a yawn from where he sat in the hard backed seat, thankfully his father was facing the window, his arms clasped behind his back and did not notice.

'In five years you will be at Hogwarts School,' Sirius brightened at these words, and his feet began to swing, just above the floor as he imagined it, 'In five years you will need to be the perfect image of the Heir of Black. History rests on your shoulders, boy.'

* * *

><p>Sirius could remember those words in his Father's study at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place as he sat in silence in an empty classroom. He was now in his third year at Hogwarts and in the midst of the greatest undertaking of his life; becoming an Animagus.<p>

He remembered the years that followed, and the hypocrisy and all the stupid little rules that tradition had demanded of him. He had learned all those things his parents had wanted him to; he had learned not to show emotion, he did not give respect unless someone earned it, he did not apologise to anyone. Those were just a few of the habits he was still unable to break, and he realised, with much more maturity than he felt, that some of the things his parents had engrained into him would be with him for the rest of his life.

Some things he could change though, and had.

He had always accepted his parents rule, but when they began to force their ways on him; using words and actions that a six year-old boy could never understand, he inwardly began to revolt. Presenting him with his first proper broomstick, he had been ecstatic with happiness and hugged his mother and father; they had taken it away immediately, "Until you are able to show behaviour more becoming of a Black."

Later that day, after a small tantrum, he had walked into the drawing room where his mother was perusing a book and asked clearly, 'Mother, could I please have the new broomstick that you were going to give me this morning?'

His Mother told him that they had "got rid of it".

* * *

><p>Sirius had been unable to understand his parents actions; he still wasn't entirely sure of what they had been hoping to achieve with such ridiculous displays. He had realised, even as a child, that something was wrong.<p>

Outwardly, he became everything his parents wanted, although he spent more time with his female cousins than perhaps they would have liked. He enjoyed his cousins company, but as they all grew up they all began to change; Bella started to hex him instead of hug him, Cissy became more aloof; trying to be an adult. Only Andy seemed to stay the same; treating him as she always did, with affection and consideration. He realised later in life that she had probably saved him from turning into a bitter shadow of his parents; she had put the idea into his head that he need not be in Slytherin, "The Sorting Hat said I would do well in Ravenclaw, but I told it I _had_ to be in Slytherin; now all my friends are in Ravenclaw and I'm not," she had confided in him one summer.

* * *

><p>When the Sorting Hat put him in Gryffindor he had been appalled; what would his parents think? He was so ashamed and scared that he had cried himself to sleep his first night ever at Hogwarts. He had received a Howler the next morning; apparently Cissy had written home and told her parents, who had told his parents. The Howler had told him not to bother coming home for the Christmas holidays. Sirius had sat at the breakfast table through the laughter from the Slytherins with supreme indifference; he had vowed the night before that he would never, <em>ever<em> cry again.

The Gryffindors had closed ranks around one of their own; no matter that he didn't want to be in their house, he was a Gryffindor whether he liked it or not. At first he had tried to stay aloof from his dorm-mates, but the Slytherins teased him and it was only when James punched Avery in the face for hexing him that he began to tentatively return their friendly advances. Soon they were waging a constant war against the Slytherins and ended up in detention several times, Professor McGonagall wrote to his parents; he received another Howler.

He laughed at it.

James won him over though; they didn't talk about his problems at home, they simply included him in everything they did and Sirius was relieved to be distracted from his misery. It was only when Sirius found Peter after a whole day of being missing; Avery, Mulciber and Wilkes had locked him in a broom cupboard on the sixth floor. It was only then, when Sirius realised he was genuinely angry that they had locked Peter up, that he realised he had made friends in Gryffindor.

That Christmas he spent a few days at James' house before returning to school; he couldn't intrude on James' family on Christmas Day. That was the worst and best Christmas he had ever had; he received presents from each of his friends, but none from his parents. The Gryffindor scarf, giant box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and Oddball's Oddball Gobstone set were the best presents he had ever had. For the whole of that Christmas Day he sat in front of the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room waiting for his friends to come back to school.

He, James and Peter had spent the rest of the year prodding Remus for answers about why he went home every month. To give him credit, Remus' story had held up until the last two weeks of the year; when he had to go home, despite term ending so soon. Sirius had been unable to sleep the night that Remus went home; he was puzzling over in his head how James could have beaten him _again_ at chess. He had got up and gone to the window ledge, where a pitcher of water and some glasses always stood. He poured himself some water and watched the moon out the window, trying to spot the different constellations he had learnt about in Astronomy. It was then that he heard the faint howl, the blood had almost frozen in his veins and then suddenly a rush of memories, too coincidental to random came back to him; he went across to James' bed, woke him and told him that their dorm-mate was a werewolf.

* * *

><p>By Fifth Year, Sirius knew he was a completely different person to the boy his parents had put on the train on the first day of his Hogwarts career. Outwardly he knew he appeared to be almost the replica of his parents, only in the wrong house; he knew he was arrogant, unforgiving and detached to the point of being cold, but he was in Gryffindor and that spoke volumes to anyone with the sense to see it.<p>

Inwardly, he knew all these things; he knew he couldn't escape being a Black, so he embraced the parts he wanted and accepted that no matter what other people thought, he had the best friends anyone could ever wish for. James had taught him a lot in the last few years; mainly about trust. He had never had to explain himself to James; James just seemed to understand, though he often ended up telling James everything later on. Sirius already knew that without James, their year in Gryffindor would never have been the same.

Now they were Animagi, which Sirius could still hardly believe, despite his cool approach to the whole transformation. He lay back on his bed; the door was securely locked with spells even his father couldn't unlock, not unless he wanted to smash a hole through the wall. He looked around at the Gryffindor hangings, the motorbikes and the girls in bikinis strewn around the walls; last year's Quidditch team photo had just arrived and it was stuck over his desk.

He knew his parents hated his room, but he had learned the value of the Permanent Sticking charm after his mother had torn down the first lot of Gryffindor hangings he had put up. James would have laughed at his reason for learning that charm, and Sirius wondered what his best mate was doing now. He was probably having a great dinner with his parents, laughing as he regaled stories from the school year.

On the other hand, he might just be sitting in his room, like Sirius and staring at the wall; it was always so hard to tell with James. One minute it could seem he was having to restrain himself from bouncing off the ceiling, the next he could be a mood so dark that you couldn't get a word out of him. Sirius had never asked the reason for this; just accepted it as James had accepted him. Though James had never explained his dark moods; he was a bit like Remus in that respect, though you knew what Remus was thinking about.

James seemed to bend the world around him; Sirius, Remus and Peter had all changed but Sirius realised that James had always been the same, almost. Fifth Year had got a bit out of hand; James had seen Snivellus fawning over Evans one too many times.

_Crack_

A house-elf appeared in the middle of the room, and his bat-like ears drooped slightly as he eyed the decorations distastefully, saying, 'Dinner is served.'

Sirius looked at him and added, 'Master,' haughtily.

The house-elf paused before grudgingly adding, 'Master.'

Sirius sat up; it was time to face the parents, he wondered if they even knew he was home yet. He had caught a Muggle taxi from Kings Cross to Grimmauld Place and got Kreacher to let him in, but not after he'd been made to stand ten minutes in the rain; apparently Kreacher had apparated Regulus straight home from the station.

He got up from the bed, checked his reflection in his mirror, which said, 'You look fine, darling,' in a voice reminiscent of James' Mum and he made his way down to the dining room.

'Hello, Mother. Father,' he said as he took his place at the Black Family table.

His parents ignored him and his Mother asked Regulus how the run up to fourth year exams was going.

'Fine,' Sirius said loudly, 'You know, I stopped ignoring people when I was twelve; it's immature, selfish and downright rude.'

The conversation stopped abruptly.

His father turned an intimidating eye on him, 'We will not be spoken to like that, young man.'

'Wow, you're not completely deaf then; it's only selective hearing. Pass the carrots, Reg.'

Regulus automatically reached for the carrots, but his father stopped him with an outstretched hand, 'Apologise, Sirius,' he said in a dangerous voice.

Sirius tried to look thoughtful for a moment, then said sarcastically, 'I seem to remember, _Father_, that you told me never to apologise to anyone I didn't respect, and I'd hate to disobey you.'

'Leave this table, boy.' His father shouted across the table, his face beginning to turn red.

'Gladly, I'd rather enjoy the company of the empty kitchen.'

'Get out!' his mother screamed at him.

Sirius' concealed rage snapped, he stood up and shouted, 'Fine! I hate it here; all you lot have ever done is ignore me and spout your "purity" bullshit as though you were the fucking rulers of the universe! Here's a fucking wake-up call; you live in a dingy house in a backstreet of London; this is the sodding Twentieth Century! NO ONE GIVES A DAMN ABOUT THE FUCKING "HOUSE OF BLACK"; LEAST OF ALL ME!'

He took a deep breath and looked at his family; his brother looked shocked, his father looked as though he had been mortally offended and his mother was apoplectic with rage. Then, suddenly, she stood up and slapped him across the face, her signet ring cutting open his cheek.

'GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE, YOU UNGRATEFUL BRAT! YOU'VE BEEN NOTHING BUT A DISAPPOINTMENT SINCE YOU STARTED SCHOOL; YOU'RE A BLOOD-TRAITOR, FILTH, NOTHING BETTER THAN-'

Sirius didn't bother to find out what he was not better than, he fished out his wand, pointed it at his mother and said, '_Silencio_.'

Then ignoring the blood flowing down his cheek, he stalked out the room, turning the corner just in time for the thrown dish cover to clang off the corridor wall behind him. He began to run as he reached the stairs, taking them three at a time; his body started to shake with emotion. He slammed open the door to his room, threw everything he could think of into his trunk and shrunk it down to an inch or two across, then, enchanting it to be feather-light he stuffed it into his pocket. His father was shouting on the other side of the door at him; his hands began to shake more violently. He wrenched the door open, pushed past his father and bounded down the stairs.

A hex burned a hole into the wall above his head as he landed at the bottom; his mother was brandishing her wand from the doorway of the dining room, a napkin still clutched in her other hand, 'YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE-'

Sirius didn't care to listen to the rest, he was already halfway down the next flight of stairs and a curse whipped past him as he reached the hallway leading to the front door. He pulled his jacket off the rack by the door, and disappeared out into the drizzle and smog.

* * *

><p>He didn't know what time it was when he knocked on the front door of Potter Manor, near Grove Hill, on the South Downs. He had taken a train, a taxi and walked for more than an hour in the dark to find it; there was no road. He had nowhere else to go other than Hogwarts, but James' parents had always been kind to him. He knew James would welcome the company, but he didn't know what his parents would say.<p>

He raised a tentative fist, and feeling nervous for the first time since his first Quidditch match, knocked.

The door opened a few minutes later to reveal an intrigued looking James, whose expression didn't change as he took in the muddy shoes and blood streaked face.

'You alright, mate?'

Sirius nodded.

'Come in then, don't worry about the carpet, Cheery'll sort it out.'

Sirius stepped inside, dripping muddy water all over the wooden floor and carpet, 'What about your parents?' he croaked.

'They'll be fine with it, you know where your room is? Grab a shower and I'll get Cheery to make a sandwich or something. Mum'll probably want to have a look at your face.'

Sirius just nodded and made his way slowly upstairs as he noticed James went towards the living room, rather than the kitchen.

He showered in a daze of exhaustion, before Mrs Potter sat him down and with more worry and care than he had ever seen on her face cleaned the cut along his cheek and frowned, 'I'm afraid that's going to leave a scar, Sirius.'

'Mmm,' was Sirius only reply as he kept his eyes on the carpet, not sure why he was feeling so ashamed.

'Well, good night, dear,' she said, gathering up the cloth and potion she had been using. She turned in the doorway and said, 'Sleep well,' before pulling the door to. James' Dad must have been waiting outside because he heard her say quietly, 'Someone hit him, Charlus, and that cut had a minor curse on it. They threw him out of the house; he hasn't said as much, but he's got his school trunk with him. Who would do that to a sixteen year old?'

The concern in her voice meant more to him than anything his own parents had done in a long time. He fell asleep emotionally and physically exhausted.

* * *

><p>The next morning it was as though Sirius always lived there; Mrs Potter simply said, 'Good morning, dear!' examining the cut on his cheek before kissing him on the forehead and shooing him away from her baking. Mr Potter simply yelled, 'Morning!' from where he was working in his study. In Sirius' opinion James' parents were the best in the world.<p>

A week later, he was as much a part of the family as Cheery, their house elf, the various re-homed Crups running around, the collection of Puffskeins, or the mischievous, oddly vegetarian Jarvey that chased the Gnomes round the garden. Indeed, sometimes Sirius thought he was just another stray taken in by the Potters; a bit like the little Jobberknoll that had been rescued and now sat on the perch in the kitchen.


	7. Chapter 6, A New Professor

**A New Professor**

* * *

><p>James watched the last First Year, a 'Wiseacre, Ioan' was sorted into Ravenclaw and Sirius muttered, 'You can tell what his nickname will be… Three galleons on his mates calling him 'Wiseass' by the end of the week.'<p>

James grinned, and was about to reply but Professor Dumbledore was clearing his throat as the Ravenclaw applause died away.

'Ahem. Welcome! Welcome back, and welcome to Hogwarts!' He said with genuine enthusiasm sparkling behind his half-moon glasses. Dressed in robes of midnight blue this evening, he swept his arms wide before continuing, 'I believe I have one or two announcements to make before we begin our long awaited and excellent feast. First of all, I would like to welcome a new member of staff; as Professor Jericho, after an unfortunate accident over the summer has decided to return to his native country.'

Remus' head turned from where he had been admiring a Hufflepuff girl's rather entrancing hair; it seemed to shimmer in waves down her back, and he was wondering how he hadn't noticed her before. At some point, probably during the Sorting, a young woman had joined the Top Table and Remus tried not to stare; she wasn't your bog-standard Professor.

'Replacing him, as our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher will be Professor Jenson.'

There was a slight pause after he finished, expecting the usual polite applause for a new teacher, but for a moment there was silence and then.

'Oi, Oi!' shouted Benjy Fenwick from the Ravenclaw Table.

Laughter and applause broke like a thunderclap across the Hall, and it soon became obvious that the pretty, blonde, blushing woman was getting more than the usual 'polite applause'. James eyed her carefully, she must have been mid-twenties and definitely hadn't taught before; she looked quite nervous, 'Merlin, why haven't we had someone like her before!' he said loudly, over the laughter, looking at Sirius for approval.

Sirius was staring at the woman, his face completely void of emotion, but James thought he could read something like hunger in his eyes. He didn't seem to hear James' comment, but Peter replied, 'She's Fenwick's cousin.'

'How'd you know that?' Frank Longbottom asked from further down the table.

Peter shrugged; he had overheard Fenwick telling Barny Cuffe at the end of last year that his cousin might be applying for a job at Hogwarts sometime in the future, and he knew the Fenwicks' cousins were called Jenson. He put two and two together; he had always been good with information like that, but anything school related seemed to drop through his mind like a sieve.

He was the Marauder's source of much of the information they gathered on people they were planning to prank; people talked around Peter, somehow assuming that since he had a reputation for being stupid, he was probably deaf as well. The Marauders had capitalised on that hundreds of times over the years and their fellow students still hadn't learnt.

James didn't question Peter's knowledge, knowing that it explained Benjy's shout; he would have never done that to any other teacher and Benjy already had a girlfriend. Not to be outdone though, James stuck his fingers in his mouth and gave a piercing wolf-whistle. Then he turned to Sirius and said, 'Challenge?'

Sirius took his gaze away from their stunning new teacher and said, with a mischievous light glinting in his eyes, 'Challenge accepted.' Then he turned his eyes back on the blonde woman at the Top Table, but now he had a look of studied concentration on his face.

Remus saw a smile almost break through Dumbledore's stern expression before he patted the air for silence, 'Thank you Mr Fenwick, Mr Potter, for your enthusiastic welcome. I'm sure that if I ever feel the urge to learn to whistle, I shall come to you.'

James' Head of House, Professor McGonagall, gave him a thin-lipped, disapproving shake of her head. James grinned back like a Cheshire Cat.

'Now, where was I?' Dumbledore resumed, 'Ah, of course; I would like to remind _all_ pupils that the Forbidden Forest, is indeed, forbidden! I hear from our Groundskeeper that a few more interesting creatures have taken up residence there over the summer. Mr Filch would also like me to remind you that a list of items that are banned within the castle will be pinned on his office door from tomorrow morning, for those who wish to update their knowledge of it. Professor Slughorn would also like me to tell you that Dungeon Six is out of bounds to all except the Seventh Years, who I'm sure will find out the reason soon enough.'

James shared a look with Sirius, who had stopped concentrating on the new Defence teacher.

'Now, that is enough rambling from me!' He beamed at them once more and finished, 'Enjoy!'

Food appeared on every plate and wonder similarly appeared on many of the new First Year's faces. James grabbed the nearest steak and kidney pie and dug a serving spoon into it.

* * *

><p>Lily watched as Black and Potter both shovelled down third helpings of dessert; it looked as though they hadn't eaten all holiday.<p>

'Urgh, I don't know where they all put it,' she said to Mary as James pushed one last spoonful of treacle tart and custard into his mouth.

'My mum would say they've got hollow legs,' Mary replied, 'I see Peter's not keeping up.'

'If anything, I'd say he's lost weight; he isn't half as bad as he was last year!'

Remus' slightly more sensitive ears caught Lily's words and grinned for Peter's sake; he'd tell Wormy later that the girls were already commenting on him. He'd say Mary had said it though, in case James got jealous.

He sat back again, sighed at his full stomach and asked Laura what subjects she was continuing this year.

* * *

><p>The feast ended with the usual crowd of people trying to all get out into the Entrance Hall at once and Lily watched distastefully as Black and Potter were greeted by their little 'Marauder Fan club' as she called them. In the process she somehow lost the rest of the Gryffindor girls in the press and found herself next to Emmeline Vance, who she usually sat next to in Charms.<p>

'Emma!' she said, giving her a quick hug as they were pushed forward, 'How was your summer? How's _Benjy_?'

Emmeline returned her hug enthusiastically, and blushed at Benjy's name being mentioned; obviously something had happened over the summer.

'It was lovely! We went to Spain, and my parents got me an owl for my birthday. I passed all my exams!' she replied as they squeezed out through the doors, failing to answer Lily's first and most important question.

Then a water-bomb exploded across a group of Third Years in front of them, splashing Lily's face.

'POTTER!' Lily screamed as the little make-up she was wearing was ruined.

But it wasn't Potter; Peeves appeared, floating half-way up the staircase and cackling madly.

'Alright, Peevesy?' the person Lily had first suspected, called up at him.

'Oooh, Potter and Black and Loony Lupin are back!' Peeves shouted gleefully, waving his arms and spilling more water-bombs down on the crowd, to the sound of several screams.

'Causing havoc again, Peeves? Carry on, carry on!' Black yelled as a carefully aimed balloon flew past his shoulder and struck a new Ravenclaw First Year firmly on top of the head.

Lily always noticed that, somehow, Peeves' disruptions never seemed to affect the Marauders, not since Third Year at least. For a month in Third Year, the four boys had apparently challenged Peeves to see who could cause the most mayhem; they had ended up in detention for two months afterwards. But, apparently Peeves had accepted that they were on a par with him, and now not a drop of water touched the Marauders as they marched up the stairs. It was like the parting of the Red Sea.

Emmeline spluttered water beside Lily and said a quick, 'Good night! See you tomorrow!' before making a break for Ravenclaw Tower as more ammunition flew towards them.

Lily dashed up the stairs as Peeves lobbed the last balloon into a bunch of Hufflepuffs emerging from the Great Hall, wondering what the fuss was about. She made it to the top without sliding through the cascade that was now running down the steps and was about to ask Potter if he had given Peeves the water-balloons, but the Marauders had already vanished.

'Lily! There you are! Did you see-' Laura stopped as she caught sight of Lily's wet hair and running make-up, 'guess you did then!' she giggled. The rest of the Gryffindor girls had apparently been watching the display from higher up the stairs.

'Black warned us something was going to happen, but you had disappeared!' Alice explained their lack of moisture, 'here, let me dry your hair.'

'I hate them!' Lily grumbled as her hair warmed and turned a little frizzy, but there was nothing to be done about it without a mirror.

'Come on!' Dorcas called as she started heading up the next flight of stairs, 'I'm knackered, and Lils can sort out her hair out in the morning!'

* * *

><p>James, Sirius and Peter were laughing behind a portrait on the third floor, even Remus was grinning; they had dropped a packet of Gigham's Giants in the Entrance Hall as they came in and, as intended, Peeves had found them. The best part was; no one could blame them, plus Peeves now owed them one.<p>

They had forged a deal with Peeves a couple of years ago, and were always happy to provide him with essentials that he couldn't get otherwise; Mrs Skower's' Resistant Fluorescent Paint and Ever-Bouncing Bouncy Balls had been the favourite last year. Resulting in a castle that looked as though it had been polka-dotted overnight; Filch had gone mental.

Sirius had a bet that they could cause the poor caretaker to have an emotional breakdown before they left school, but so far he was proving stubbornly resistant.

This year they wondering what kind of mayhem Peeves would be able to conjure from the selection of items they had gathered over the summer. A few things; like the Japanese Bloatfish that Sirius had in a sealed jar in his trunk would be reserved for a special occasion, but they had handfuls of Dungbombs and Erkwell's False Chalk for Peeves to play with.

There was much planning to be done in terms of mischief making to be done this year, and each year they had a reputation to not only uphold, but increase.

* * *

><p>The girls reached their dorm, right at the top of Gryffindor Tower and Laura collapsed on her bed, wondering if Harry Greene might ask her out at some point; he was quite good-looking <em>and <em>on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. She folded her robes over her chair and picked up her pyjamas as Dorcas pinned up a new poster of Ludo Bagman, who had been in Fifth Year when they started at Hogwarts but was now playing for the Wimbourne Wasps as a successful Beater.

Lily looked at this new addition to their dorm and sighed, 'I don't know what you see in him Dorcas; he's not exactly intelligent.'

Dorcas raised an eyebrow at her, 'Lils, I'm not going to marry him or anything; he's just rather nice to look at!'

'It's true!' Mary seconded; she was keen Quidditch supporter and went to as many League games as she and Dorcas could get tickets for. Lily always suspected that it was something to do with the extremely masculine men flying around above her head that Mary liked to watch more than the game itself, but she enjoyed watching a game every now and then, so she never said anything.

Alice appeared in the doorway, looking slightly flushed.

'And where have you been, Miss Yates?' Dorcas asked, in her best McGonagall impression, as Alice ran a hand through her slightly dishevelled hair.

'Saying goodnight to Frank; I haven't seen him for about a week!' she protested.

'I hope you didn't make anyone else suffer, while you did it!' Lily grinned as she unpacked clothes from her trunk.

Alice stuck out her tongue and pulled off her school robes.

'Speaking of boyfriends,' Laura said, as she exited the bathroom in her flowery pyjamas, 'when are you going to actually try and have a relationship with someone, Lily?'

'I do have relationships!' Lily protested, going slightly red.

'Going to Hogsmeade doesn't count as a relationship, Lils.' Dorcas grinned at her.

Lily seemed to have awful luck when it came to boys; last year a boy in the year above had asked her to Hogsmeade, but somehow fallen down a flight of stairs on his way to meet her. A few weeks later, she had been asked by Finn Quigley in Ravenclaw, enjoyed a wonderful afternoon and then just as he was about to kiss her he had tripped and knocked them both over.

Of course, she _had_ managed to kiss a couple of boys, but had never actually had a boyfriend, as such. She pulled off her robes and exchanged her shirt for a t-shirt reading, 'G is for Genesis' and pulled the curtains round her bed shut so she could finish changing.

'Did you see the way Black was looking at that new Professor at the Feast? I think he's got more chance with her than Lily has of getting a boyfriend!' Alice said teasingly.

'Hey! I heard that!' Lily shouted.

Later on, listening to Laura snoring softly, despite Laura's yearly protest that she didn't snore, Lily wondered if she would ever find a boy who would actually really like her. Potter was always asking her out, but it was obviously more to annoy her than any serious matter. Anyway, Potter was the last person Lily would ever go out with.

She shifted her pillow and stared into the darkness, running through the boys in her year, wondering if any of them might like her enough to ask her to Hogsmeade. She sighed; she supposed it was like her Mum always said, "Someone will come along when you're least expecting it, darling, and sweep you off your feet."

With that comforting thought in mind, and small amount of wondering when that moment might be, Lily drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Remus was wondering if James would ever stop going on about how good Lily looked when she was all wet...<p> 


	8. Chapter 7, Flesheating Shrubbery

**Flesh-eating Shrubbery**

* * *

><p>Lily woke early the next morning, the vague memory of good dream playing in the background of her mind as she pulled back the curtains around her bed. She sighed as she realised that there was only grey, dawn light coming through the high windows rather than true sunlight; there was probably a good hour or two till breakfast. For a moment she considered pulling the heavy material shut again and snuggling back down into her thick, warm duvet, but then she realised that since she was awake she may as well be doing something.<p>

She yawned and stretched, sliding her legs out from under the duvet and shivering as the cold air played around her toes. She took her towel from where it was hanging on a little hook near her bed and began to walk across to the bathroom, stopping to look out the window and see what kind of day it might be.

Grey mist hung across the valley; the Forbidden Forest and the lake were completely enshrouded, but the higher ground near the castle was relatively free. She guessed that if she were outside, the castle would look like it was floating on a sea of cloud. She stood, musing at her own thoughts for a moment and trying to spot where the sun might be coming up. Then movement far below caught her eye.

It was James Potter.

She frowned and watched as he sidled round the side of the castle and wandered away towards the Quidditch Pitch, he had a broom over his shoulder and a rucksack over the other. Lily wondered what he was doing; surely he wasn't going to go flying at this time in the morning?

She shook her head as he disappeared into the mist and decided that her feet were beginning to get a little too cold for her liking. She turned away and went to have a hot shower before the others got up; then she thought she might go down to the Common Room and start looking through her textbooks. She always liked to be ahead; it gave her a bit of an edge.

* * *

><p>'Lils, what are you doing down here? We thought you had been kidnapped, or something, during the night!' Dorcas cried dramatically as she found Lily in front of the fire in the Common Room. She frowned; Lily was already dressed and looked as though she had washed her hair, 'What time did you get up?'<p>

Lily looked up from the second chapter of her Charms Textbook, 'Oh, I woke up ages ago and decided to get up. I didn't realise we be looking at Memory Charms for N.E.!'

'What?' Dorcas asked blankly, 'Lils, it's too early for that kind of stuff; let's go get breakfast. Mary and Alice are just in the shower, and Laura said she'd wait for them.'

'Alright, well, I'm hungry anyway; do you know what lessons we've got today?'

'_You've_ got today. We don't do the same subjects anymore,' Dorcas corrected as Lily put her book away.

'You still do Transfiguration and Charms!' Lily reminded her, as they headed for the Portrait Hole.

'Mmm, but you sit next to Marlene in Charms and Laura in Transfiguration,' Dorcas grumbled good-naturedly.

'Awh, are you going to miss me this year?' Lily asked teasingly, 'I'm sure we can arrange some sort of rota so we can all sit next to each other!'

'You have a _rota_ of you sit next to?' a disbelieving voice interrupted them as they pushed open the Portrait.

Lily and Laura turned round; it was the Marauders and Peter had just spoken.

'No.' Lily replied, 'And if you were any good at eavesdropping you would know that, Pettigrew.'

'Yeah, _Pettigrew_,' James added sarcastically, 'the rest of us all _know_ that Lily's going to write up a rota.'

Dorcas bit back a grin; Lily had probably actually been considering it. Remus sloped forwards though, 'Now, now, children; no fighting before breakfast,' he said dryly. Lily gave him an odd look; was he being serious?

Peter let out a strained giggle and Lily turned away, pushing open the Portrait and Dorcas followed her. The Marauders followed a few metres behind, talking loudly, 'Merlin, I'm knackered, Padfoot. What time did we go to bed? About three?'

'Something like that; Remus was starting to get shirty.' Came Black's reply and Lily frowned.

'I wasn't getting shirty!' Remus protested, 'James was just getting repetitive.'

She had seen Potter heading down to the Quidditch Pitch at about six; almost two hours ago. He couldn't have had only three hours sleep; that was just ridiculous. But then their conversation turned to more mundane matters, 'Wonder what breakfast'll be, I'm starving.'

'Mmm, yeah.'

* * *

><p>They reached the Great Hall without any further arguments, though Lily was getting annoyed at the way they had to talk so loudly all the way down; you couldn't help but hear every word from half a corridor away.<p>

'How do they ever get away with anything?' She asked her companion, 'They're not exactly quiet, or subtle.'

Dorcas shrugged, 'They're not stupid, Lily, no matter how much they act the part,' and sat down, taking a seat near the middle of the table and helping herself to orange juice, 'Oh, pain au chocolat, yummy!' she said, taking two.

'I'd watch yourself there, Meadowes; you'll end up looking like Broadmore!' James grinned at her, nodding his head at where the huge boy was sitting. Stan Broadmore wasn't fat; he was just massive all round, sort of like a smaller version of Hagrid, the school Gamekeeper. He was currently working his way through a large bowl of porridge, had a plate of sausages, eggs and bacon at his elbow and few pain au chocolat nearby.

Laura watched as Remus helped himself to an equal amount, while James ladled porridge into a bowl, he added raisins and poured honey over the top then slid it over to Peter saying, 'There you go Wormy; healthy as you like.' He then joined Black in what appeared to be a pain au chocolat eating competition.

Dorcas, Alice and Mary joined them a few minutes later, 'Have the timetables been given out yet?'

'Nope, McGonagall hasn't appeared yet.' Lily answered Alice's question.

'Waiting to see when your free periods are going to be, Yates? Don't worry, you can spend them with us; I noticed we're doing the same subjects!' James called across the table.

Alice smiled cheerfully and said, 'Great! You can help me with Transfiguration then!'

James scowled.

'Hey, Sirius!' a girl called as she walked past the Gryffindor Table; she was tall, willowy, had honey coloured hair and beautiful, azure eyes.

Sirius ignored her.

She shot him a pouty glare and completely missed the look on Remus' face as he realised who he had been staring at the night before. Tara Canton-Fell was only interested in two things; boys and Quidditch. She excelled at the latter, and usually engaged in flirtatious banter with Sirius among others; it was strange of Sirius to ignore any girl's attention.

Remus examined Sirius covertly; his friend simply hadn't appeared to hear her. He put it down to tiredness or concentration on his pile of pain au chocolat, before mentally shrugging and going back to ploughing through his breakfast, waiting for his newspaper to arrive.

* * *

><p>McGonagall arrived a few minutes later as the Hall began to fill and the owls also arrived; the usual parcels of forgotten books and clothes were dropped in front of people, and something bounced off Peter's head with an odd <em>clonk<em>, before it rolled under the table.

James picked it up and said, 'I knew I'd forgotten my Crystal Ball, cheers for catching it, Wormy!'

He clapped a watery eyed Peter on the shoulder, who smiled painfully and grinned at Sirius; it was a fake Crystal Ball he'd bought in the Quadrangle in Edinburgh. He was hoping to sneak it into Professor Renock's collection and wait for premonitions of a dragon attack on the school to filter back to him. No one gave him a second glance; Divination was the kind of subject one of the Marauders might take just for a joke.

Remus paid for his newspaper and after handing the sports pages to James, disappeared behind the day's headlines.

'Black?' Professor McGonagall called down the table; she was looking for each of the new Sixth Years to confirm they got the results they needed to continue their chosen subjects, 'Let's see: Outstandings in Transfiguration, Defence and Potions, that's fine. I was impressed with your Transfiguration marks; I believe you and Mr Potter both scored one hundred per cent,' She gave Sirius and James a rare smile, 'and Exceeds Expectations in Herbology and Charms. I think that's fine.'

Remus was then cleared to continue too; the Marauders had all chosen the same subjects to carry on, but Peter looked nervous as she approached. He had failed Potions and Astronomy.

'Ah, Mr Pettigrew; I was astounded by your Transfiguration mark!' she exclaimed but gave him a searching look, as though she thought he might have somehow got round the anti-cheating spells, 'Now, it says here,' she continued, consulting a list, 'that you applied to continue Potions, but I see that you received a D. Have you put any thought towards choosing a different subject? I'm afraid Professor Slughorn expects at least an Exceeds Expectations from students wishing to continue.'

Peter went pale and blinked nervously, 'Ah… I w… was hoping… a… an exception?' he stammered nervously.

McGonagall frowned, 'Mr Pettigrew, I'm afraid that's impossible, I do see though that you scored highly in Care of Magical Creatures, and Professor Kettleburn is willing to take on another; he has quite a small class this year I understand.'

Peter looked even more worried, he'd only done Care of Magical Creatures for O. because the others were doing it; he didn't really like big animals, 'I… I… um, al… alright then.'

He gave in quickly and she scribbled something down before telling James he was free to continue his subjects. Peter watched his friend a little enviously; James was talented, had girls swinging off his arms, clever, good at Quidditch… He looked down at his meagre breakfast of porridge, honey and raisins, then at his stomach; it gurgled hopefully. He sighed and picked up his spoon again, wishing it were a bacon sandwich.

Remus saw his friend staring disconsolately at his bowl and leaned over, 'Hey, Peter?'

Peter looked up, 'Yeah, Moony?'

Remus leant a little closer and whispered, 'I heard Mary saying how great you were looking last night at the feast.'

Peter's mouth fell open in disbelief and he looked curiously at Mary before she caught his eye and he blushed. Then he went back to his porridge with renewed vigour; maybe he would try and go for a jog later, round the Quidditch pitch or something.

'Oh, look! We've got a totally free morning; great!' Dorcas exclaimed as she looked at her new timetable.

'Same!' chorused Mary and Laura.

'It's cause you're not taking Herbology…' Alice grumbled, looking out at the grey mist that was only just beginning to burn up, 'It'll be freezing in the Greenhouses; the sun's barely out yet.'

'And that's why I didn't take the filthy subject,' Dorcas said happily, 'See you at lunch; I'm going back to bed!'

'Well, bully for you,' Lily replied, looking out the window at the thick mist.

* * *

><p>Professor Tumble explained that this year they were going to be looking at Flesh-eating Shrubs and led them into Greenhouse Five for the first time ever; where they spent three, <em>very<em> tense, hours trying not to get bitten by anything. The lesson started off with everyone shivering and bundled in cloaks until the sun broke through the mist; then no one wanted to be wearing their school robes but didn't want to expose any skin to the surrounding, threatening plants. The first casualty was Caradoc Dearborn as he gave in, sweating heavily and rolled up his sleeves.

'I know it wasn't a very exciting morning!' Professor Tumble called cheerfully after them as they fled at the end of the lesson, 'Next week we'll be in Greenhouse Six; we'll be looking at the _really_ fun stuff! Oh, and remember to tell Miss Pomfrey that Mr Dearborn was hit by a Dazeawk Bush, not a Fraughtpine!'

Caradoc was being half-carried back to the castle by Finn Quigley and Silvia Keitch; his legs had stopped working properly after the Dazeawk Bush had spiked him, but Professor Tumble insisted that he would be fine sitting in a chair for the rest of the lesson. Peter was nursing a bad bruise round his wrist after a Mindanao rootling had bitten his hand; luckily it hadn't started teething yet, or Peter probably wouldn't have a hand.

The Marauders got back into the castle and Peter left them to go to the Hospital Wing, Sirius called first shot in the shower and made a break for Gryffindor Tower. Somehow James suddenly wasn't in the mood for theatrics and he hung back slightly, letting Lily and Alice go up the stairs first; Remus stepped up beside him and said, 'You alright, James?'

James watched Lily and Alice absently; they were oblivious to his and Remus' presence as they chatted, until they disappeared from sight. Then he turned to his friend, 'Yeah, just tired, didn't sleep last night.'

'Again?'

'Yeah.'

'You should go ask Miss Pomfrey for a Sleeping Potion; it's getting worse.' Remus replied, knowing that James wouldn't but it was his duty to try and help his friend. James had barely slept a whole night as long as Remus could remember; he was too energetic. James was always the last one to bed and the first one up; most mornings he was down at the Quidditch Pitch at dawn, teaching himself from his textbooks, or working on homework that he hadn't yet finished, all for a couple of hours before breakfast. That was after a night probably spent roaming the castle, setting up pranks or simply mucking about with the rest of the Marauders.

Remus had realised why James hardly concentrated in class years ago; he was either trying to stay awake after a night without sleep or he had already learnt what was being taught and was bored. The only times he had known James to sleep longer than he did was after Quidditch matches and parties, under the influence of large amounts of alcohol, or after a full moon, when they were all utterly exhausted. Going to school for a full day, having Quidditch practice, running around for most of the night and then going straight back to school would have destroyed most people; but for the Marauders it was a regular occurrence.

James leaned heavily on the banister and watched as Remus suddenly grinned at him, 'Cheer up, Prongs; we've got Defence Against the Dark Arts after lunch!'

A brilliant grin broke through James' tired eyes and suddenly he was back on form again, 'Race you back to Gryffindor Tower!' he shouted and sprinted up the stairs.

Remus shook his head, maybe Lily was right; the boy _was_ insufferable.


	9. Chapter 8, Simply Complicated

**Simply Complicated**

* * *

><p>James Potter considered himself probably the simplest person he had ever met; he just had some complicated issues surrounding the simple bit. He turned on the shower.<p>

Essentially, he had decided, the main bits of him were made up of; the bit that liked excitement, the bit that needed food, the bit that loved Quidditch and the bit that wished Lily Evans would go out with him. James didn't really want much from life; he wanted to play Professional Quidditch and have a great girlfriend, preferably Lily. Other than that he wasn't exactly bothered about the details, although playing for England would be awesome.

The problem came when you added in all the things he done so far.

Sure, he was pretty confident of getting a place on a Professional Team; on the other hand, his parents thought he should get a 'proper' job. Proper jobs bored the hell out of James; who would want to sit in the Ministry or a shop and go over accounts and useless, bureaucratic paperwork. Most of which contradicted itself and didn't actually mean anything, or help anyone; sometimes he wondered what it was the Wizengamot actually did and how they came up with some of their most ridiculous laws. He was sure there were better; if not more exciting things he could be doing with his life. Besides, all his Father had done before he retired was complain about the nonsensicality of half the work he had to do.

James' parents expected him to either follow his Father's footsteps or have the ingenuity to start his own business. James thought it sounded like hell. He couldn't really do anything about it until he left school though, so he had given up thinking about that kind of stuff; focusing on what he enjoyed. Besides, as a Quidditch player, he could do what he loved doing, get paid for doing and have the spare time to see and help his friends. What more could he ask for?

Lily was another problem though, and far more complicated.

It had started in First Year; before they even got to Hogwarts, he had insulted Snape, and that had annoyed Lily who had seemed to like the slimy bastard. It had only got worse that year when Snape and his Slytherin mates attacked Sirius and James had punched Avery in the face. James smiled as he stepped into the shower and stuck his head under the spray; that had been one of the finest moments that year. Avery's bleeding nose, his own raw knuckles and the first true grin he ever saw on Padfoot's face; they couldn't help but be friends after that.

Of course, Lily had always thought that they had just been picking on Snape and that they had started it; it had actually begun with the Slytherins jumping Sirius. Of course, Sirius had probably known more hexes, jinxes and curses than the five Slytherins combined; but they hadn't known that. It had been a brilliant moment though, even if they had got into a lot of trouble.

And there was always Peter. James had found him on the train and immediately guessed he was in their year; someone that small had to be. He had looked so lost until James had sidled over and suggested they found a compartment together.

Everyone always thought of him as "poor, little Peter Pettigrew", but to James he was always Wormtail and his Animagus really said a lot about him. He was intelligent, maybe not clever, but intelligent all the same and resourceful; he had a habit of picking up snippets of gossip and stringing them together to find out things. He was quiet though, and in a school like Hogwarts people then assumed if you weren't in Ravenclaw and quiet, then you were probably too stupid to have proper friends. The Marauders had found out how wrong those people were on several occasions; who had figured out where the entrance to the passageway to Honeydukes was? Who had realised that Filch always had a set patrol route for each day of the week? Besides, if Peter was really as stupid as people thought he was: would the other Marauders have stuck so close to him? It was an uncomfortable truth James realised, but truth nevertheless.

Then came Moony's furry little problem, James sighed under the warm water; that had changed all of their lives. What else could they have done though? Four twelve year-olds could never have come up with a cure for lycanthropy; becoming Animagi had literally been their only option and he hadn't regretted it for a moment. The look on Remus' face when he realised that they had actually done what he had thought wasn't possible: the sheer adrenalin of walking along the Whomping Willow tunnel to play with a werewolf.

Everything after that just got stupidly complicated; James had got onto the House Quidditch team that year, they had started the Animagus process, they had invented the whole cover-up story to keep everyone distracted and somewhere along the way James had become the person he was pretending to be. Looking at Fifth year, there were times when James was disgusted at his own behaviour; how honourable was it to jinx Third Year Slytherins? Snape and his cronies were fair game; Snivellus was always pulling out his wand behind James' back, but he _had_ gone too far sometimes.

Now all Lily saw was the arrogant, smart-arse persona the Marauders had created. James and Sirius were popular, but they didn't have any real friends outside of the Marauders; there was too much at stake there. Remus was popular by association, but he always stayed out of the limelight for obvious reasons and Peter tagged along with everything they did, helping and staying in their protective shadow.

Looking over the Quidditch Pitch that morning, James had felt sick of trying to be someone else, but he just didn't know how to go about reversing everyone's opinion of him without tearing apart the whole, elaborate scene the Marauders had wrought. He felt tired of it all, he made up his mind; he'd sit down with Sirius and Remus and talk to them about it.

Suddenly he felt as though a great weight had been taken off him and he stood up in the shower, an odd smile gracing his face and he reached for the soap; between them the Marauders could solve any problem. That reminded him of the questions about the Map; they needed Remus to get books out the library for them. Maybe McGonagall would give them a note for any Restricted ones; she looked as though she could have hugged him and Sirius that morning. He might want to stop looking like such an arrogant prick, but Hogwarts was Hogwarts and there were still hundreds of secrets to be unravelled.

They had that new Defence woman after lunch too; that would be amusing. James and Sirius always had a Challenge to see who could push a new Professor the furthest, within limits; they couldn't disrupt other people's school progress. Yes, the Marauders had a certain code; not written down or anything stupid like that, there were just things you didn't do. No one, in their right mind, would walk into a classroom and dump a whole bag of Ever-Bouncing Bouncy Balls onto the floor; the class would never start. However; swapping out the chalk by the blackboard for an Erkwell's fake was always amusing. A dusty explosion, a surprised Professor and a good laugh later they would be getting on with the lesson. There were definite limits, and although they might have crossed the line once or twice, they now knew where it was.

He turned off the shower and grabbed his towel; he had a whole list of things to do, including asking McGonagall about Quidditch Trials taking place early. He had to find half a team from somewhere and get them up to scratch; he'd be damned if he didn't win the Cup this year. Slytherin took it last year, Ravenclaw the year before that and then Hufflepuff had been unbeaten for years before that. James' eyes narrowed as he remembered last year's match against Slytherin; he should have seen it coming really. Slytherin had won by twenty points, and only after the Gryffindor Seeker had taken two bludgers to the head; they had smashed heavy iron ball after heavy iron ball at Rochfield and it was only a matter of time before the first clipped him and the second put in the Hospital Wing. Even with a secondary seeker who had barely played before James, Dorcas and Sarah Huntly, the other Chasers, had kept them ahead of Slytherin by miles. Slytherin had got the snitch just in time though and had taken the Cup through what James considered as unsporting play.

This year though; he could feel it and he knew they could win; besides James had more tricks up his sleeve than a court jester.

He rubbed the towel through his hair, folded it round his waist and stepped back out into the dorm; Sirius had disappeared and Remus slipped into the now free bathroom. James spotted something on his bed; it was a letter.

He closed his eyes and sighed; in Sophie Carson's handwriting on the front it said neatly, _James Potter_. It had been a great while it lasted; but James just wasn't as committed as Sophie and he could almost feel her beginning to like him far too much. Still, he couldn't deny he hadn't loved having a proper girlfriend; it was a hell of a lot better than the week or so of tense denial before he had broken up with the other one or two he had gone out with.

Still in his towel he collapsed on his bed beside the envelope but didn't pick it up; there had been something essentially good about the way he had just been himself around her. She had been in Ravenclaw and probably knew more about the Marauders than any other person, which wasn't exactly much, but marked the level of trust James had put in her. Lying on the lawns by the lake in the sun a month or two before exams, James closed his eyes and remembered.

* * *

><p><em>Sophie was lying on her back with her arms behind her head, her T-shirt had ridden up slightly and her belly button was on show; she was completely relaxed and for once so was James. Slytherin had won the Quidditch Cup and James wasn't thinking about the exams; he was watching Sophie's pale, flat tummy rise and fall as she breathed. He was lying beside her, propped up on an elbow; it was a Sunday and the Marauders were taking a day off.<em>

_ 'What are you thinking about?' she asked softly, brushing a stray hair back from her face._

_ James gave her a slow smile and said, 'Just how beautiful you look right now.'_

_ Her face lit up at the compliment and James meant it; she did look beautiful. Her tongue flickered out slightly and wet her lips; James leant over and kissed her. But he wasn't thinking about her at all._

* * *

><p>It had ended badly, or quite well, depending on how you looked at it; Sophie had been distraught, confused and upset or James' apparently sudden change of heart. She had shouted at him, cried bitter tears and asked him so many times, "Why, James, why?" He had stood as she shouted, hugged her when she cried and maintained an awful silence when she asked, staring into the distance and hating himself every minute. But she wasn't for him. She was an amazing girl; she was pretty, intelligent and funny, but she wasn't Lily Evans.<p>

James sat back up, he'd read the letter later; Sophie had seemed happier recently, she'd got a job working with a magazine and said she was enjoying it. James thought about Lily though; he didn't know what to make of her, he just found her captivating. He could watch her for hours; the way she wet the end of her finger with the tip of her tongue before she turned a page, or the way she frowned, blinked and looked down at her desk for a moment before she answered a teacher's question.

Yet she had just as strong principles as James did; they were the same as James', but James stuck to his in a slightly different way. Lily wasn't to know that though. He just wished he could have with Lily what he had had with Sophie, even for a day; then she might see who he really was. But then if she saw who he really was, she would see the whole Marauder deception and that simply couldn't be done; Remus, Sirius and Peter came before anyone else in the world.

James stood and got dressed; life was far too complicated for someone simple like him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Right, now that we've got the big three out the way and a bit of background, I feel we can really start life at Hogwarts. You need to remember though, that Remus and Sirius are what their lives made them, while James' life is what he made it.


	10. Chapter 9, Pensieve Discussion

**Pensieve Discussion**

* * *

><p>Remus was sort of looking forward to Defence Against the Dark Arts for several reasons; first of all it had always been his favourite lesson, who else got to learn to recognise themselves in lessons? He thought it was hilarious. Then there was this new teacher; he wondered whether she would be up to scratch, or if they'd have another Professor Gaffyd on their hands. There was also the case of Sirius; he'd been a bit off all morning and Remus was wondering if it had something to do with Tara, they did had Defence with the Hufflepuffs and she was one of the few continuing.<p>

He had showered after Herbology, changed and was now lying across a sofa in the Common Room, one hand behind his head, the other lightly holding the latest book he was reading. It was lengthy, overly complicated and Remus was loving every word of it; it reminded him somewhat of the Marauders.

James appeared at the bottom of the stairs and Remus looked up from his book; his friend looked as though he wanted to say something, but Dorcas and Laura bounded down the girl's stairs and into the room.

'We've been having a lovely bath!' Dorcas told them happily, 'I love this new timetable!'

'Together?' James asked, eyes lighting up.

'No! There _are_ two bathrooms!' Laura shot back, still a little stung over Lily's bath sharing comment from the train.

'I never knew you guys had two bathrooms! That's so unfair, how come boys only get one?'

'Because girls need more space and caring than boys do!' Laura replied regally.

Remus picked up a cushion and aimed it carefully at the back of Laura's head and her perfect hair, winking at James.

'What are you grinning- Argh! Remus you're such a-'

But James picked her up and dumped her onto the sofa beside Remus and began to tickle her mercilessly, 'James! James stop! Dorcas! Dorcas! My ha- ha- hair!'

Dorcas was laughing too hard to help, besides she didn't want to her hair all messed up too. They had spent most of the morning preening while Lily and Alice were grubbing around in the Greenhouses with the boys. Finally they stopped and a dishevelled, red-faced Laura was allowed to go back up to her dorm to brush her hair again before lunch.

* * *

><p>Dorcas accompanied the boys down to the Great Hall where they found Peter and Sirius already engulfing chicken and ham pie, 'I won't tell James that's your third helping, Wormy,' Sirius said loudly as they approached and he winked at them behind Peter's back.<p>

'No, it's not! Oh, hi, Prongs, Moony, Meadowes,' he said nervously looking up them.

Dorcas never understood why Peter never called anyone by their first name; it was always Meadowes, or Yates, or Tavistock. Maybe that's why he didn't really seem to know anyone; he just wasn't very approachable. She sat down beside them, helped herself to pie and asked James, 'So, when are try-outs?'

James turned away from pretending to berate Peter over his diet, 'I'm to going to ask McGonagall if we can have them on Saturday; I want to get a new team sorted out completely before the season begins.'

'Sounds like a good idea, same team as last year though?' she asked hopefully, she didn't really want to spend hours messing around with new chasers.

James considered this for a moment, 'Yeah; there's no point breaking up chasers who've played together for a year and Sirius is probably the best Beater in the school except for Quigley.'

'_The_ best Beater in the school,' Sirius corrected, leaning across Remus.

James ignored him, 'So we only need a Seeker, another Beater and a Keeper.'

'Any ideas on that?'

'I was wondering if we could get George Hill on the team; his brother was the best Keeper I've ever seen,' James replied. Henry Hill had been in Seventh Year when James was in First, but he now played for the Falmouth Falcons.

The remainder of lunch was spent in serious discussion of what kind of team Slytherin and Ravenclaw might be able to put together and whether Hufflepuff had anyone other than Syd Tollip worth watching out for.

* * *

><p>Lily and the rest of the Gryffindor girls except Laura were queued up outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom when Peter and Remus appeared without the other two. All four houses now did Defence Against the Dark Arts together but with the number of people who had stopped, the class was still slightly smaller than last year. Lily thought that was a good thing though; they would probably learn more. She wondered what the new Professor would be like, turning away as Avery, Severus and Rosier arrived. She hadn't talked to Sev yet and wasn't sure how she felt about their friendship after last summer. She continued chatting to Alice.<p>

At exactly half past two, the classroom door was opened from the inside and Professor Jenson was there, smiling at them, 'Come in, guys!' she said as she held the door open for them.

Lily and Dorcas exchanged looks; no teachers had ever called them "guys". They filed in and took seats, mostly in Houses, though Lily stole the seat next to Emmeline Vance before Benjy came into the room. Rosier somehow ended up next to Mary as everyone sat down, and Lily couldn't tell if Mary thought this was bad thing or not. Rosier was one of those 'decent' Slytherins, as Remus called them when Potter and Black weren't about, though even they had admitted once that he was "alright".

He was polite, didn't seem to share the rest of the House's prejudices and was sort of palely good-looking. He always seemed a bit aloof, but if you talked to him he was actually really friendly. Lily wondered why he had sat next to Mary. Lily also noticed that not one of the Slytherin girls had carried on Defence.

Then the young Professor caught there attention by clearing her throat, 'Right, hi guys! I'm Professor Jenson-'

Benjy Fenwick snorted.

'Yes, Mr Fenwick?' the young woman asked politely, as though she had never met the boy before.

'Um, nothing Lara.' Benjy muttered.

'That's Professor Jenson, Fenwick.' She corrected, unfazed by her cousin's attitude.

'Yes, Professor,' Benjy capitulated, rolling his eyes.

'As I was saying; I'm Professor Jenson and I'll be teaching you this year-'

Lily caught a quiet, 'Bet she has,' from Avery behind her followed by sniggering.

'Ten points from Slytherin, Mr Avery,' the blond woman at the front chimed, 'I don't like to be interrupted when I'm speaking.' Apparently she already knew their names.

Avery glared at her, but didn't say anything. But the door burst open and Sirius Black stumbled in; his robes were askew and his ordinarily immaculate hair was ruffled. He looked for all the world as if he had just-

'Sorry, I'm late Professor, sort of lost track of time…' he grinned lazily and went to sit down at the back, pulling out his books and parchment before he could get any points taken off.

Professor Jenson sighed and waited a moment until Black had sorted himself out, 'What I was going to say was that you are almost young adults and I expect a bit more maturity from you than I would my younger pupils,' she gave Avery a pointed look, 'if you act like adults I will treat you like adults and if you act like children-'

_BANG_

The door flew open, framing James Potter in the doorway, 'Oh, shit, didn't mean to do that,' he said quickly, walking into the room, 'Sorry I'm late Professor-'

'Ten points from Gryffindor for lateness, Mr Potter,' she said, spots of colour appearing on her cheeks as she was interrupted for the third time.

James was already walking to his seat beside Sirius and stopped, he turned around and said, 'Actually, you can't do that.'

Professor Jenson gawped at him, 'Sorry, what?' she said, finally showing her youth and inexperience at James' audacity.

'I've got a note from Professor McGonagall excusing me,' he said smugly, now walking to the front and handing it to her.

'I… Very well,' she snapped, taking the note and reading it.

James made his way back to his seat, grinned at Black and pulled out some parchment.

Lily felt a bit sorry for her; she seemed nice enough and definitely didn't deserve to have Potter, Black and the Slytherins messing her about in her first lesson with them.

'As I was saying,' Professor Jenson finally continued, having determined that no one else was going to burst through the door or anything, 'Act maturely and I'll treat you with maturity. Now, we'll be looking mainly at two subjects this year; Curses and Counter-curses, as well as Non-verbal magic. I think we ought to start with a few questions to see how much you know.'

Lily was quite enjoying the lesson; after the troubled start Professor Jenson asked them about subjects from previous years, obviously wanting to see how much they knew. Then she moved on to Curses and Non-verbal spells, 'Now who can classify Jinxes, Hexes and Curses for me?'

Lily stuck her hand in the air; this was First Year stuff really, but Caradoc Dearborn, who seemed to have recovered from that morning's Herbology lesson was chosen to answer.

'And how would you classify the Stunning Spell, anyone?' she asked, 'Jinx, Hex or Curse?'

Lily stuck her hand in the air again, but Black answered from the back, 'It's a Charm.'

'Hand, next time please Mr Black. Miss Evans, why is it a charm?'

Lily smiled, finally her chance, 'Because it changes the state or behaviour of the person it is cast upon; improving their condition from possibly dangerous to unconscious.'

Potter piped up at that point, 'Surely though, from the point of the victim you could call it a hex or a curse, because it's having a negative effect on the person.'

'But it's not,' Lily replied, 'Unconscious is better than dangerous.'

'Yeah, but if I used it on you, you'd say you'd rather be conscious no doubt.'

Lily wasn't sure how to answer that, but Professor Jenson stepped in, 'Very good Mr Potter, it comes back to the question of classifying spells; do we classify them from the point of view of the caster, or of the… victim, shall we say.'

'Surely spells are always classified from the view of the caster,' Lily replied.

'Yeah, but look at the Imperius Curse,' Caradoc joined in, having made it to the lesson on wobbly legs and obviously picking up on Potter's idea, 'you could make the person do some beneficial to themselves, or something harmful. Yet it's an Unforgiveable.'

'Very good, Mr Dearborn. Now that leads us on to the Unforgiveables; one being the Imperius Curse. Who can name the others?'

Lily let some of the others answer questions and turned to Emmeline, 'So? What did you and Benjy get up to over the summer?'

Emmeline glanced at Lily and a slight blush came to her cheeks, 'Benjy came and stayed at my house for a week,' she admitted.

Lily was intrigued, 'And? What did you get up to?'

Emmeline blushed deeper.

'You didn't!' Lily said, astonished.

'No, we didn't have sex or anything!' Emmeline said, knowing what Lily was thinking, 'We just did some other stuff…'

* * *

><p>By the end of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Sirius was bored; all they'd done was talk about what they already knew. He watched Lara Jenson out of the corner of his eye; he refused to think of her as a Professor, she's was Fenwick's cousin for Merlin's sake.<p>

She was pretty, she was obviously confident; how many twenty-four year olds were teaching cocky sixteen year-olds? She was intelligent; you had to be to teach at somewhere like Hogwarts. Sirius doodled across his parchment and listened to the discussion going on around him, by the end of the lesson he had a fair drawing of a girl in only her underwear on his page. He'd asked Benjy how old his cousin when he talked to him after lunch, he'd also found out that Quigley was Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain. Compton; the Slytherin Seventh year was still sporting his shiny silver badge and the new Hufflepuff captain was a Seventh Year called Henry Kayser.

Apparently James had got McGonagall's permission to hold try-outs on Saturday; earlier than most teams but McGonagall was always good with Quidditch stuff, especially if there was a chance of them winning the Cup. He suspected that the teacher's enjoyed the Quidditch matches as much as the pupils and he seen McGonagall looking inordinately happy after a Gryffindor victory.

His entry at the start of the lesson had been on purpose; knowing he looked like he just climbed out of a broom cupboard he'd wandered in late, just to judge Jenson's reaction. It wasn't one to miss; she'd obviously thought he had just climbed out of a broom cupboard. He reckoned it was his brazen display that had distracted her enough for him to get away with it, and then James had burst in.

She'd been so close to actually getting angry and Sirius could see it in her eyes that she didn't want to shout in her first lesson, especially when James told her she couldn't take points. James was great at winding up people when he wanted to; apparently this woman was no exception. Eventually the lesson ended and he got up with James, shoving his quill in his bag and hoping Charms would be a bit more exciting; James had already read most of the textbook and said they were doing Memory charm theory this year.

* * *

><p>Flitwick's lesson was bound to be much more interesting; they always were. More people did Charms so they were just with the Ravenclaws this year; and there a few girls for Sirius to look at. Gryffindor girls didn't count; they were pretty, but Sirius would never go out with someone in the same House. You would end up spending too much time together.<p>

Silvia Keitch, Marlene McKinnon and Tamsin Greene were the Ravenclaw girls with them in Charms. Silvia wasn't much, Marlene was kind of pretty, but Tamsin was the real stunner; he seen Remus staring at her all through the start of year feast and decided to leave her to him if he was going to make a move. But then, it was Remus, and Remus had never done girlfriends; he said they weren't worth it. He hadn't complained at Louisa following him around all summer though _and_ holding hands, Sirius thought, grinning to himself; the boy _was_ human after all.

Suddenly he realised he had left the scrap of parchment he had been drawing on in the Defence classroom, and mentally swore; that could be embarrassing next time he had Defence. He wondered what he might say if Jenson asked him about the drawing, but soon gave up; he'd play it by ear. He sat back and listened to what Flitwick had to say.

* * *

><p>'Correct Miss McKinnon! Now can anyone tell me about Pensieves?'<p>

The whole class sat silent. James looked up; it was a word he had never heard before. He looked at Sirius; he was looking interested for a change, this wasn't on the syllabus, Remus frowned and flicked through his textbook.

'You won't find answers in there, Mr Lupin.' Flitwick called from his position at the front.

'Very well, a Pensieve is a stone container; a sort of viewing platform for memories.'

Flitwick now had every person's attention in the room; even Peter was looking surprised enough to listen. Lily had her mouth open slightly, and James could see a hint of very white, even teeth between soft lips as she gazed at Flitwick in astonishment.

'How does one view these memories? One removes a specific memory from one's mind and places it within the viewing bowl. Of course, a memory is a fragile thing; without a wand, mind or Pensieve to sustain it will dissipate and be lost.'

James watched as Lily raised her hand, 'Yes, Miss Evans?'

'You said you could _view_ the memories, Sir?'

'Yes, quite right. One places a memory within the viewing bowl and touches the surface. One is then transported into the memory and can view it from an entirely different perspective; as if you were standing in the room with yourself at the time of the event.'

'But you said memories could be corrupted, Sir.'

'Oh, yes; a memory can be altered to show a different event or a different interpretation of an event. However, it takes a very subtle and gifted hand to alter a memory and not leave a trace. A viewer of such a memory would find blurring or even mist appearing to cloud that which is not to be seen.'

'Sir, would it be possible to place a memory in any other kind of inanimate object?' James asked; he'd had an idea.

Flitwick frowned, considering the possibilities, 'I believe you could, though without sufficient spellwork and protection the memory would soon be lost. You see, a Pensieve is not just a 'memory box'; it is a source of magic within itself. A memory requires life or a similar source to maintain itself; a mind or wand attached to someone's hand, or it will dissipate. You see, Pensieves are obviously not alive; but they draw so much of their maker's energy, magic and life source that it takes years to recover from such a venture. As a result, Pensieves are extremely rare and valuable objects.'

James looked at Sirius and mouthed two words.


	11. Chapter 10, The Werewolf's Problem

**The Werewolf's Problem **

* * *

><p>'The Map!'<p>

'Look, James, we just don't know enough about it; and look what Flitwick said, "it takes years to recover from such a venture." I don't know about you James, but it sounds dangerous.'

'Dangerous?' Sirius scoffed at Remus' expression, 'When has danger ever been an obstacle for _us_? Moony, you're talking to three guys who run around with a werewolf once a month.'

Remus sighed, knowing he would end up giving in eventually, but this sounded worse than any Animagus transformation. Giving up your magic and life source; he didn't even want to know how it could go wrong, 'Look, it just sounds like it could go badly wrong.'

James looked at his worried friend; Remus was always the one who saw the risks, knew the dangers and felt responsible for them not getting hurt. He smiled, reached into his pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper.

'What's that?' Remus asked, frowning at him.

'A note from Flitwick, saying that we go into the Restricted Section of the library for research on Pensieves; I told him we were interested in them and he practically wrote this for me before I had finished asking.'

'Great work, Prongs!' Peter cried.

Of course, Flitwick hadn't just given him unlimited access to the Restricted Section, James had had to do a lot of persuading, but finally the tiny man had been won over by James' sudden and genuine enthusiasm. Now they were in their dorm and trying to persuade Remus that putting their own memories into a map they had drawn of the school was a good idea, that it wouldn't go horribly wrong and that it would actually work as way of stopping others reading it.

'Think about it, Moony, the benefits are incredible; it would be able to recognise us from other people, it couldn't be fooled and well… just think about the possibilities!'

Remus looked sceptical, 'I'm not saying I'm agreeing or anything, but yes, it could work, but it could go wrong. Before we start anything to do with it, I want to know everything there is to know about Pensieves and memories! Now though, I've got a Prefect's meeting and I said I'd meet Lily in the Common Room.'

He stood up from where they were sprawled across his and James' beds and made for the door, 'Remus, wait,' James said, following him, 'I wanted to ask you about Lily.'

Remus sighed and looked at his friend; James was watching him earnestly, 'Prongs, I've told you hundreds of times, no matter what I say to her on your behalf, you know she won't accept anything until she _sees_ you change. Even then, she might not want to go out with you.'

James was shaking his head though, 'Remus, I don't want you to say anything to her, just… after you're done with the Meeting, can we talk about what you said on the train? About me being 'Prongs' and not 'Potter', cause I'm not really sure who I am anymore.'

Remus saw the concern on James' face and knew something was changing between them all. Something inside Remus suddenly clenched and he began to feel nervous for no good reason, but he grinned and said, 'Sure, Prongs.'

James watched him disappear down the stairs and turned to the other two; Sirius was still lounging across James' bed, fiddling with his wand and shooting multi-coloured stars across the room, Peter was searching in his trunk, presumably for the Map.

'Padfoot?'

Sirius raised his head off the bed and looked at James, 'Yeah?'

'Do you think I'm being an idiot?'

Sirius searched him with fathomless eyes for a moment before he smiled lazily and said 'Nah, mate. She already likes you, she just hasn't realised it yet.'

'Padfoot?' James asked again, sitting on the edge of Remus' bed.

'Yup?'

James swallowed, 'If… _If_ I did ever manage to get Evans to like me, would you mind if I told her about…' he tailed off, knowing he was crossing boundaries that were never, ever meant to be crossed.

Sirius sat up, smile falling away, 'Prongs, mate. If you love the girl, and she loves you and you trust her, then I trust you to tell her whatever you like about yourself, about me, about us. Hell, Prongs; I'm not going to disown you just because you told someone I can turn into a dog, I'm still bloody surprised no one else has ever worked it out for themselves! Sometimes I reckon we're surrounded by morons.'

James grinned and felt a wave of gratitude flow through him; Sirius was truly the best of friends.

'Before any of that, though mate, we've got a fake crystal ball to place, a Bloatfish to get rid of, and a ton of over crap to muck about with. So I reckon you can appear to be a good citizen for Evans tomorrow.'

James grinned, 'Sound alright to you, Wormy?'

Peter looked up, he'd heard everything, and he knew that if James trusted someone, and Sirius trusted them, then he could. Both of his friends were much better judges of character than he ever would be, 'Yeah,' he called, 'You get her, Prongs.'

He was rewarded with one of James' truly affectionate smiles, and he couldn't help but grin back; James' moods were always infectious, 'Cheers, Wormy! You're a true mate.'

Peter grinned all the harder and James turned back to Sirius, 'So, crystal ball is easy, but about this Bloatfish?'

* * *

><p>Lily was looking at Transfiguration notes from her last lesson of the day; McGonagall had wasted no time in telling them that a lot more was expected of them now they were at N.E.W.T level. She had already asked for a foot on the limitations of Conjuration; N.E.W.T Transfiguration looked like it was going to be a lot harder than Lily had expected.<p>

Thankfully Flitwick had only set them questions, and their new Defence teacher hadn't given them anything. Though she had to look up Flesh-eating Shrub toxins for Herbology on Friday. She sighed and looked up to see Remus coming down the stairs; he looked a bit annoyed.

She put her notes back in her bag and stood up, it was ten to eight; the Prefect's Meeting would start soon.

'Hi, Remus, you ready?' she asked brightly as he reached her.

'Hi. Yeah,' came his quiet reply.

'You alright?'

He gave her an unreadable look, 'Yeah, fine.'

She frowned at him, 'Alright then,' apparently something _wasn't _wrong with Remus. They climbed out through the Portrait Hole, Remus swinging his longs legs through easily and waiting for Lily who was considerably shorter.

Lily didn't want to say anything, but Remus was being downright odd; normally he was the first person to help girls through the Portrait Hole. Still, she managed on her own and made it a few steps into the corridor on the other side when Severus Snape stepped out of the shadows, 'Lily!' he hissed urgently.

Lily didn't know what to do; she'd been ignoring Sev for months, all through the holidays and it hadn't changed when they got back to school. But she sighed and said, 'Go on, Remus, I'll catch up.'

'Alright.'

Remus disappeared around the corner on long legs and Lily turned to Severus, 'What do you want, Sev?' she asked tiredly.

'Why won't you talk to me anymore? I apologised and you still ignored me all summer…' he said sullenly.

'Look, Sev, it's… it's… You can't go around calling people things like _that_ and expect no one to notice. Especially when you call your best friend that… Though I notice you've got better friends these days.'

'Well, you won't talk to me and they're not that bad.'

'Sev; Mulciber's just creepy, Wilkes is a complete idiot and Avery is a chauvinistic pig!' Lily said, 'I'm not trying to be rude, but they're awful, Sev.

'They're-' But Lily had an idea.

'Why don't you hang with Rosier and his friends? They're a lot nicer _and _they don't curse people!'

'Says the girl who hangs out with the Marauders!' Sev snapped.

'What?' Lily asked, confused.

'I saw you at breakfast, sitting next to them, then I find you wandering down the corridors with Lupin; you're such a hypocrite, Lily!' Sev replied, looking let down and disgusted.

'I don't-'

'You know what, Lily? Don't bother; it's obvious you hate me.' Severus said inconsolably and he turned away, marching down the corridor, leaving Lily feeling shocked and guilty.

* * *

><p>Remus got back to the dorm after an hour of dull, tedious and incredibly useless discussions of rotas and duties; he never understood why one person didn't just sort it out, then if people need to change they could swap. If he was ever Head Boy, he'd definitely do it that way; much easier and less time consuming for everyone.<p>

Lily hadn't look too happy when she arrived; obviously Snape was being irritating, Remus never understood what she saw in him. The only thing the two had in common was their extraordinary ability in Potions; other than that, they were about as opposite as you could get. He gave the Fat Lady the password to the tower, '_Dragon Claws_,' and went inside; he thought he'd make a start on his Transfiguration essay tonight.

He crossed the Common Room and headed up the stairs.

'Moony, you're back! What took you so long?' Sirius asked as Remus appeared in the doorway. They too had just got back from the North Tower, and the Divination classroom; someone was going to get a hell of a surprise next time they looked in a certain crystal ball.

Remus looked up and almost groaned, he had forgotten he was going to talk to James after the meeting; he had been looking forward to getting his essay out of the way, he sighed and said, 'Alright, Prongs, what did you want?'

He sat on his bed and listened to what James had to say.

James began to explain that if he was ever going to get Lily to even see him in a different light, then the Marauders were going to have loosen up a bit; stop being quite so active and immature, or at least seen to be less active. They could stop getting caught, have perfect alibis and maybe get to know some other people a bit better, well, let people get to know them.

Remus' brow furrowed as James talked, and he watched Sirius who seemed to be quite happy with this revelation. He had the feeling James had already talked to Sirius about this, and he felt as though they had gone behind his back a bit. He had always been different; the werewolf, the responsible one, the _Prefect_.

Eventually James came to the hardest bit, 'Look, Moony, I know we've always been this tight little group, but we need to branch out, we need to let people know us.'

Remus sighed, he had to say something, 'James, we talked about this; people could find out about us, about everything.'

What he mean to say though, was: 'They could find out about me!'

Sirius interrupted though, 'Moony, we can't go on living in a little bubble for the rest of our lives. And we had that talk years ago; things have changed a bit since we were twelve.'

Remus was worried though, he was always worried, that someone had somehow found out, that everything he had was about to come crashing down around him, 'You can't let people know, James,' he pleaded.

'Moony, we're not about to go shouting about it from the top of the towers! Prongs just wants his girl to know who he really is, let her in and _she_ might let him in…' Sirius grinned and his own wit.

'Padfoot, seriously, enough Evans jokes, they're not funny!' James retorted, annoyed but still grinning all the same.

Something in Remus snapped; they were taking this far too lightly, they never took anything seriously and this was his life they were talking about, 'No!' he suddenly snapped, 'I'm not going to let you two ruin my life just because James thinks he might like some stupid girl who hates his guts anyway!'

James and Sirius looked shocked, and Peter looked up from where he was searching under his bed for his Transfiguration book.

'Remus, we just told you, we're not going to-'

'I don't care; someone will find out, they'll know and I won't have anything. _Again_!' Remus suddenly shouted, getting to his feet and pacing across the room.

It was Sirius' turn to get angry, 'Stop being to so bloody selfish, Moony!' he yelled, 'This whole situation started because we wanted to help _you_! Now look around yourself! Look how much we've achieved, look what we've done; it all started because of _you_! And the minute James asks for something back, you turn on him as though he's never given you a damn thing!'

'Stop acting like his god damn pet for a moment, Padfoot! Look at the wider picture; as soon as I leave here, my life will be over. After Hogwarts there is _nothing_ for me; you guys will have the whole bloody world at your feet and I won't even be able to get a FUCKING JOB! SO HAVE SOME BLOODY CONSIDERATION! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT MY LIFE WAS LIKE BEFORE I STARTED HOGWARTS!'

'WELL MINE WASN'T SO BLOODY FANTASTIC EITHER! AND YOU KNOW WHAT? IT WAS YOUR SODDING IDEA IN THE FIRST PLACE!' Sirius roared back.

Remus stopped pacing, gave Sirius a look of complete and utter contempt, grabbed his book bag and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

James stared at the door, 'I didn't expect _that_ to happen,' he said quietly. He looked up at where Sirius was standing, fists clenched and breathing heavily. Terrible anger shone from his eyes; there were insults in Remus' words that couldn't be forgiven easily.


	12. Chapter 11, The Background Boy

**The Background Boy**

* * *

><p>Peter hated it when people shouted, as his friends were now. He hated arguments and always felt bad when people got upset; he felt he ought to say something to Sirius about letting Remus be, but the look in Sirius' eyes told him that saying anything right now would be a bad idea.<p>

Peter had never been particularly outgoing; his Father had died when he was little and his Mother had never really been the same since. Mrs Pettigrew was a small, plump, quiet woman and she didn't like anything that was too noisy or where there were too many people. Thomas Pettigrew had been a large, burly man and a long-term member of the Law Enforcement Squads. He was killed protecting a family of muggles from a crazed wizard on the run for multiple murders, his sacrifice had bought them the few minutes needed for the Aurors to arrive and saved their lives.

Joan Pettigrew had done her best to bring her son up properly, but without the strict rule of his Father, Peter had become lazy. He got bored easily and because of the remote location of their home, rarely spent much time with other children. So Peter had spent much of his childhood finding ways to entertain himself and as a consequence of not liking the outdoors too much; he got bad sunburn, so he stayed inside near the biscuit tin.

Coming to Hogwarts had been a bit of a shock to him; he was suddenly surrounded by children his own age and they took an interest in him. Mostly it was a passing interest, before they realised that the chubby little blonde boy didn't have much to offer in any way of entertainment. James had always been nice to him though; he invited him to sit in their compartment on the train that first day, and he always listened to what Peter had to say, even if it wasn't particularly clever or funny.

Remus too always encouraged Peter; it had been his idea for Peter to go on the diet over the summer and he made sure that Peter came surfing with them. Remus always helped Peter with his work when Peter fell behind, and tried to cheer him up when he felt down.

Sirius had always been a bit different from the other two; Peter was never sure whether Sirius was going to bark with laughter or bite. He was impossible to judge; one minute he'd be laughing, the next he'd be sneering at Peter and telling him he was an idiot. But all of the best times of his life had been spent with all three of friends; becoming Animagi, discovering loads of secret rooms and passageways, learning how to impress the girls with his rather ridiculous surfing skills. Sirius had complimented him on a particularly impressive move when he had practically flown over the top of a particularly big wave, landed several metres behind having executed an elegant spin mid-air, and was just in time to catch the next one. Peter hadn't admitted that he had lost control, been terrified as he flew through the air, only out of sheer luck staying on the board and been hanging on for dear life as the next wave swept him up.

He was quite happy with his life though, mostly; his friends helped him and included him when others would have left him alone, they also protected him from people like Avery who always tried to trip him or hex him. Not that they didn't play their own pranks on him every so often, but then they played pranks on each other the whole time, so that didn't matter.

There was a host of things he wished he could do though, although flying had never been one of them. Yes, he could admit that it looked cool and girls loved watching people like James and Fenwick diving recklessly after the Quaffle, but the idea of balancing on a stick a hundred feet above the ground made his stomach turn. Anyway, back when they had taken Flying Lessons in First Year, he had taken to the air like a stone to water.

Nope, Peter had far simpler wants in life; friends, food, just to be able to get through the exams, and maybe, if it wasn't too much to ask, a girlfriend…

Girls though, they were a mystery to him; especially pretty girls. He always got tongue-tied around people like Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes; those were really the only pretty girls who ever spoke to him. Marlene, only because she was a Prefect and probably telling him off; Lily and Dorcas were in his house and he spent a lot of time around them so it was inevitable.

He'd talked to girls over the summer; they'd even laughed at his jokes, but coming back to Hogwarts was different. People judged him here and still thought of him as the chubby little boy who hung about with the Marauders. He wished he could have another summer like the one they had just had; he wanted to meet people who didn't know him and if he ever got the opportunity he thought he'd like to go abroad. There he could start a new life as Peter Pettigrew who wasn't "that little fat boy who hangs about with Black and Potter".

But then, he didn't want to leave his friends behind either; the world was such a fun place with them beside him. Out in the world, life would be different; they'd still see each other, but there was no way someone like Peter would end up working with people like Sirius, James and Remus. He sometimes wondered what he would have done if he wasn't in Gryffindor and the Marauders weren't his friends.

He wondered where Remus had gone; he and Sirius had said some pretty awful things to each other. He hoped they would have a play fight or something and it would just be alright again. That's what Sirius and James did when they disagreed. But then Remus only ever did stuff like that at full moon; Peter thought it must be hard to live with the constant battle of having an animal in your mind, poor Moony.


	13. Chapter 12, Quidditch Tryouts

**Quidditch Try-outs**

* * *

><p>Remus stalked down the corridors towards the library, he was furious at Sirius, at James and at himself. In fact, he was furious at the whole damn world; what had <em>he<em> ever done?

The logical part of his mind told him to calm down, to get a grip, that he shouldn't have said those things to Sirius. The wolfish part roared in frustration. A headache overwhelmed him and he walked into the library, seeking solitude and silence so he could do his Transfiguration essay.

* * *

><p>Sirius looked fit to kill someone, 'How can he say that?' he snapped, 'How can he possibly believe any of what he just said?'<p>

James looked up, feeling let down and not a little guilty, 'Padfoot, it was probably just a bit of a shock; I could have worded it better. Moony's always a bit…'

'Unstable?' Peter offered where he lolling on his bed.

'Emotional, when it comes to his problem. He'll be alright once he's thought about it, I hope.'

Sirius sat down and shook his head, 'Nah; he's not going to change his mind on that one, I could see it in his eyes,' then he looked up at James with determination and growled, 'He's got a hell of a lot to answer for though.'

James just lay back and stared at the canopy of his four-poster bed, twirling his wand idly and frowning unhappily.

* * *

><p>Remus didn't come back until Madam Pince closed the library for the night, and then he went straight to bed without talking to the others who were playing Switch Poker in the Common Room. Switch Poker was fun because at random intervals all of the cards changed suits and value; one minute you could be holding a pair of aces, the next they could be a two and a five. The betting was wild, and only idiots played with real money; James, Sirius and Peter were playing with leprechaun gold.<p>

Lily was trying to work on her Transfiguration essay, but the Marauders gasps and cries of defeat or victory were too distracting. She kept glancing over at them and huffing to herself until Mary said, 'Lily, shush; you're almost as bad as them.'

'They're being so loud though,' Lily complained.

'It is the Common Room, Lils.' Laura pointed out from where she was playing chess with Alice.

'Mmm,' Dorcas agreed from behind the latest edition of Quidditch Today, 'They're not breaking any rules.'

'Yes, but normally Remus gets them to shut up, where is he?'

'He went to bed a while ago; Frank said he heard Black and Lupin shouting earlier, he said it sounded pretty serious.' Alice replied; furrowing her brow as Laura's bishop smashed a pawn to the board with his sceptre. The unfortunate pawn was dragged aside and Alice's ordered her knight forward to do battle as Laura gasped at her mistake.

* * *

><p>By Saturday Remus still hadn't spoken to his friends; in fact, he had actively been avoiding them. Waiting for James' restlessness to begin at dawn, James would disappear out to wherever he would go; to the Quidditch Pitch, running, research or homework, then Remus would get up, shower and disappear too.<p>

He noticed now that Sirius made a point of sitting beside James in all of their lessons, his lip curling as Remus appeared, despite James' hissed warnings. Remus felt as if that single argument had somehow struck him off the role of Marauder. Now he just seemed to be the _Prefect_ who slept in their dorm; not the reason they had banded to tightly together.

Still, it was hard to ignore the hope on Peter and James' faces every time he walked into the Common Room, or came into a lesson. But he would just sit down silently beside Peter, get his books out and start working, oblivious to all but the teacher, or at least he pretended he was. He wasn't sure who he blamed for the sudden schism, and he suspected that that meant he was blaming himself.

Still, some part of him was furious and that part wouldn't go away; every time he saw Sirius and James, he wanted to shout his anger at them. He also wanted desperately to sit down with them and laugh at James' latest idea to prank Avery, or some other unsuspecting Slytherin, who nevertheless deserved it.

Somehow though, Saturday arrived and Remus was no closer to finding his friends again than he knew Sirius was to apologising. He felt he was caught somewhere between cowardice and resilient fury; although where, was beyond him.

* * *

><p>James had been planning his Quidditch try-outs and potential team all week, he had stuck a notice on the board in the Common Room on Wednesday afternoon saying that try-outs were on Friday. By Wednesday evening there was a list of names beside it almost as long as there were people in Gryffindor House.<p>

He stuck another notice up on Thursday, pointing out that only people who were prepared to give one hundred per cent to the Quidditch Team and were above First Year should put their names down. By Thursday evening there was another list, considerably shorter.

Dorcas, Sirius, Sarah Huntly and himself formed the core of the team; but he wanted an extra for each position in case of injuries. He'd spoken to George Hill about try-outs and the six foot fourteen year old had been willing to come and give Keeper a go. His brother had been legendary at school and James was hoping he might be able to tap into what he hoped was a family talent.

Other than that he needed a Beater and a Seeker. Both would be hard to find; Sirius had the muscle and the eye for pounding accurate bludgers a hundred feet up, but there were few who had the balance to take two hands off a broom and swing with everything they had.

Sirius had been playing since Fourth year and could almost rival Finbar Quigley, whose mother had played for Ireland and had taught him to fly as soon as he could walk.

James had been planning all week; ploughing through Quidditch Weekly, Quidditch Today, even Which Broomstick?, looking for training inspiration and what sort of broomsticks suited which positions. He missed Remus' insightful comments though; Remus didn't play but he had an observer's eye for the sport that would catch things James would miss.

Saturday came round and dawned clear, bright and with a light breeze; apparently summer was making a last ditch attempt to prevent autumn coming round. James was up with the sun, checking the pitch, measuring dive stopping distances with a practised eye and getting a good warm-up before breakfast.

Unusually he was first into breakfast, showered and almost bouncing with every step as he piled into porridge, bacon, eggs, black pudding and toast, washing it down with draughts of pumpkin juice.

Dorcas appeared, looking cheery in light of what could turn into a whole day's flying ahead of them. Sirius came next, and then Sarah arrived; a Fifth year, but she had played with James and Dorcas last year. By the end of the year, they had almost acted with a single mind; between them beating the record for highest number of goals ever scored in a season at Hogwarts. James just hoped they hadn't lost any of their ability over the summer.

* * *

><p>Peter was lying in; he'd come down to watch them later and Merlin knew where Remus was these days. Sirius thought he was being a coward; if he had had a go at the others like that, then he would be the first to apologise for his temper, and he knew James would understand. Remus could be a loose cannon though; staying perfectly calm through the worst of times and flare up at something ridiculous, like James asking about Lily.<p>

In Sirius' opinion James didn't even need to ask; he could have just gone ahead and done what he liked, because in the end, James was the one who had stuck by them through everything. James was the one who had promised to help Remus, James had had the Animagus idea, James had let him stay over the holidays when his family became too much, James was the life and soul of the Marauders, and the minute he asked for something back, Remus had snapped, 'No.'

Sirius would have done anything for James and the others without hesitation, and not just because he owed them so much. But Remus had… well, there was no point going over it again. He was happy to wait until Remus came back to them, and as soon as Remus apologised he would quite happily shake his hand and forget the incident. Until then though… he rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck; there were try-outs to be held and Sirius was in the mood to be swinging a bat at something.

* * *

><p>By Lunchtime James had a good idea of his team; his back was aching from where a bludger had hit him in the kidneys, two people were in the hospital wing after a mid-air collision, but he thought he had found his players. Best of all though, he had spotted Remus in the stands beside Peter mid-morning.<p>

George Hill, with his ridiculously lanky body and limbs had outstripped every other applicant for Keeper; showing that he did have his brother's talent and with some solid training could be just as good. Another Fourth Year, a girl, surprisingly had turned up for Beater; she didn't have the strength of any of the boys, but she did have a decent eye for accuracy and predicting player movement. Instead of hitting a bludger after a player, Hannah Blackett hit ahead and let the player remove the extra distance themselves. It had been her who had got James in the kidneys, and he knew he'd have a nasty bruise. She had muttered something about her Dad being a farmer and leading with shotguns when he asked her about it. That was what happened when you underestimated the opposition, he thought to himself as he watched a couple of promising Seekers drop out of the sky; he was testing their nerve.

James winced as one applicant ploughed into the ground and he shot across to help him up, 'You alright mate?'

'Yeah, fine!' the Fifth Year said, staggering to his feet. He looked a little dazed, but every other Seeker was looking horrified at his bloody nose and torn robes. He brushed a mop of brown hair back from his forehead and pinched his nose to try and stem the bleeding, 'When do we get to have a go at the Snitch?'

James grinned; here was someone he liked. He pulled out his wand, pointed it at the boy's face and said, '_Episkey_.' The bleeding stopped and the boy said, 'Cheers,' before clambering back onto his broom and taking off.

'He's either an idiot, or he really wants to be on the team,' Dorcas said as she landed beside him, 'He didn't even attempt to pull up until he saw the rest were heading back up into the air. Who is he?'

James grinned, he too had seen the reckless display, 'Tommy Ransom. Yeah, I know; I think we might have a Seeker. Wonder what his eyesight's like?'

* * *

><p>After lunch, James and the remaining Seekers were out on the pitch; Dorcas, Sarah and the new sub Chaser were putting Hill through his paces, while Sirius and Hannah was slamming golf balls into the sky as hard and far as they could. The Seekers had to catch them before they hit the ground. James played with them, and he outstripped all of them and setting the standard; not hesitating to make a last minute dive a few feet off the ground to catch the last ball. He landed and rolled to applause coming from the stands; various Gryffindors were up there, as well as a few other admirers and a couple of Ravenclaws checking out the new opposition.<p>

James gave them a wave and bow, grinning a few minutes later when Ransom made a snatch that caught him off balance and he rolled before tumbling from his broom, holding onto the golf ball and landing with an audible _crack_ that had the crowd gasping.

'James! He's going to kill himself!' Dorcas screamed at him, from across the pitch; the fall must have been fifteen feet at least. She was white faced as Ransom tried to stand up but groaned and sat down heavily.

James landed beside him once again, 'Broken ankle?'

'It's just sprained; I'll be able to walk it off, Mum's a nurse in London.'

'That doesn't look good!' Sirius shouted cheerily from above them, grinning at the catch despite himself, but Tommy seemed to know what he was talking about and he heard James say, 'Alright then, I'll give you a hand to mount up.'

* * *

><p>By suppertime James had a clear team in his mind; He, Dorcas and Sarah would stay Chasers, Sirius and Hannah would be fine Beaters once he'd got Hannah hitting a bit harder, George was improving by the minute and Tommy had, with courage that had even James impressed, beaten all comers to try and take his Seeker position.<p>

He announced his decision and there were cheers from the die-hard Gryffindor fans who had remained in the stands all day. He had noticed Evans appeared for an hour or so in the afternoon to watch Dorcas, but he had been too busy to throw any comments her way.

* * *

><p>Sirius could hear Dorcas still yelling at James from up in the dormitory; he had guessed and been right, Tommy's ankle had been broken and James had known it. Dorcas was now screaming at him about responsibilities of Captaincy, 'HOW COULD YOU BE SO BLOODY STUPID: HE COULD HAVE BEEN SERIOUSLY HURT AND YOU COULDN'T CARE LESS! STOP GRINNING AT ME YOU STUPID BASTARD!'<p>

James had confided in Sirius that he _had _known Tommy was lying, but needed to see what the boy could do; if he had gone to the hospital wing, then his chance for a place on the team would have been over. James wasn't about to take second best, so he had given Tommy a chance and Tommy had grasped it with both hands.

Sirius grinned as he headed for the shower before supper; he was knackered, but it been a good day's practise and he had a feeling that they had something special this year. Besides, he'd spotted a rather nice looking Ravenclaw Fifth year watching with some of the Gryffindor Fifth Year girls; he thought she was called Elizabeth Townley. He had a feeling that from the way she had been watching him constantly, especially when he took his Quidditch robes off when it got too hot; he'd been left in his tight Quidditch trousers, pads and bare-chested. He got a few whistles from the crowd, but he played up to it and hit the golf balls even harder; sending them towards the stands at the far end of the pitch.

When the sun started to set, and it was time to head in, he'd given her a wink and pulled an unfortunate Mary into a sweaty hug, watching her reaction out of the corner of his eye as Mary squealed.


	14. Chapter 13, Watchers

**Watchers**

* * *

><p>Lily lay restlessly in bed; the Marauder's had conjured a kettle earlier and somehow Sirius had got hold of a cafetier and ground coffee beans. They had stuck the kettle in the fireplace and made fresh coffee for any sixth and seventh years who wanted it.<p>

Lily rolled over and tried to find a cold bit of pillow; three mugs of coffee had helped her finish her Charms essay, but it wasn't helping her get to sleep.

'Bloody Black and Potter,' she mumbled quietly to herself, 'Damn them and their stupid ideas.'

She rolled over again, this time on to her back and folded the duvet aside, twisting her legs out to cool down. She was regretting wearing her flannel pyjama bottoms so early in the year, she liked the gingham check, but they were just too thick. She couldn't be bothered to change them though so she rolled them up around her knees and opened the window side of her bed curtains to let some air in.

After a few more minutes of pondering and wondering if she would ever go to sleep, she decided she might as well get up, so she looked at her little wind-up clock that sat beside her bed. She never wore a watch; she had once had one when she was little but it got broken and she had never worn another. Who needed a watch in a school anyway; bells were always ringing to end classes and everyone else had one, so she could just ask them.

Lily swung her legs over the side of her bed and searched with her feet until she found her slippers. She tied her hair back in a ponytail, grabbed whichever textbook was at the top of the pile and used the faint moonlight to find her way to the door. She found her favourite armchair near the remaining embers of the fire and curled up, lighting a nearby lamp so she could read; it was her Herbology textbook and she was happy she could get ahead on her Flesh-eating Shrub toxin research. Professor Tumble had hinted that they would be getting an essay on it soon, and Lily wanted to go over what they had started so she could make a plan for her essay later.

Something moved outside the pool of light cast by the lamp and Lily almost screamed.

'Who's there?' she asked, grabbing her wand.

No one said anything, but she became aware of a slow, rhythmic noise; someone was breathing nearby. She listened to where it was coming from and raised her wand a little higher, '_Lumos,_' she said and the tip glowed.

Remus Lupin was revealed, stretched across a sofa, head tipped back over the arm with a book on the floor beside him. Lily sighed as she realised what had given her such a fright. But at that moment, Remus suddenly snorted and his eyes snapped open. Lily jumped and nearly screamed again as he gave an odd kind of growl as his unfocused eyes met hers.

They focused and he suddenly realised where he was, 'Bloody hell, Lily! Hasn't anyone told you not to creep up on people while their sleeping?'

Lily tried to calm her racing heart, and took a step back, 'I… err, sorry.'

Remus blinked, holding up a hand to ward off her wand light until she extinguished it, letting the softer glow of the lamp replace it, 'What are you doing down here? It's three o'clock in the morning!' Lily asked him.

'Oh, me? I was reading… must have fallen asleep. What are you doing? It's a little late for work isn't it?'

Lily blushed as Remus eyed the Herbology textbook in her hand, 'I couldn't sleep… too much coffee earlier.'

'Coffee? I didn't see any at supper…' Remus muttered, as though he had wanted some.

'Black and Potter had it, where were you earlier, by the way? I haven't seen you all week!'

'Oh, I've been busy; loads of homework and stuff,' he waved his hand vaguely and blinked at the softer light. Lily frowned; he did exactly the same subjects as she did, and they hadn't exactly been snowed under. She wondered if it was to do with the argument Frank had heard at the start of the week.

'Anyway, I'm going to go to bed,' he said yawning, 'Catch you later, Lily.'

'Ok then,' she said softly, 'Goodnight.'

Remus suddenly turned back and said, 'Lily?'

She looked up, 'Yeah?'

'I… J… oh, never mind, it's not important. G'night.'

She watched him wander across the room and disappear up the stairs; she wondered what sort of argument could have ended with Remus avoiding his dorm mates. She stared at the fire for a few minutes, wondering what it was the Marauders actually did the whole time. She had watched Dorcas shouting at Potter earlier; he'd made one of the Fifth Years carry on with the try-outs even after the boy had broken his ankle. She watched him make a rather spectacular catch, tumble to the ground and it soon became obvious he was hurt, but Potter had just gone over had a few words and physically put him back on his broom. It just showed how little Potter cared for other people; Quidditch and himself came before everything.

She huffed at the thought of him before she opened her book again and read:

"_The Sylvestris improba is one of the most common of the magical flesh-eating shrubs, standing at four feet tall, yet it is powerful enough to capture small mammals and is often mistaken for…'_

* * *

><p>Remus cursed himself; one little act could have avoided this whole situation, could have ended and solved every problem they currently had. Only he was too much of a coward to do anything, to say anything.<p>

Of course he had gone to Quidditch try-outs; James relied on him to be there and spot anything he missed. He had hoped James might come over and say something, but apparently he hadn't even noticed him.

Now he didn't even go into his dorm unless it was for something necessary; Sirius accusatory looks and Peter's hopeful glances were too wearing. James just seemed to ignore him. He wondered if this was what it was like to be someone outside of the Marauders; they just seemed so unapproachable.

In the morning he thought he would go to the library early and see if there was anything about his condition that might be affecting his mood. They had done huge amounts of research in Second year, but Remus had forgotten most of it; it was bad enough being a werewolf with the constant two sides of your mind battling each other for control, and now he wondered if it was beginning to affect him.

* * *

><p>James was up early on Sunday morning; he was up early every morning, but today he wanted to go down, check the Quidditch pitch and start drawing up all of his Quidditch notes into real strategies and plans. He had his team; now he just needed to sculpt the ideas he had to suit them.<p>

He pulled on some jeans and a t-shirt, taking his Nimbus 1001 from its case under his bed; he never left it in the school broom shed where the Slytherins could mess about with it. The Nimbus was good for chasers who need to move quickly, but the turning capacity on it wasn't great, it was also a harder broom to balance on and had a tendency to roll. Sirius used a Cleansweep Five for playing Beater; it had greater manoeuvrability and was as steady as a rock, but Cleansweeps just didn't have the speed of the Nimbus series.

He reached the Common Room and spotted a figure near the fire, which was already burning brightly. It was Lily; she had obviously fallen asleep at some point, and James noticed a textbook open where it had fallen on the floor nearby. He walked over quietly and picked it up, smoothing out the pages where they had crumpled, before marking where she had been reading with a bookmark that was on the table beside her, then he left the book on the table for her.

He made it all the way to the Portrait Hole before he looked back at her; she looked beautiful, relaxed and comfortable. James' resolve to go and plan out Quidditch strategies weakened; all he wanted to do was go and curl up beside this wonderful girl who could laugh and smile and enjoy herself with anyone but him. She had a t-shirt and some pyjama bottoms on, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and it revealed a wonderfully pale neck; James ached to go and kiss her smooth skin.

He shook his head sorrowfully; he needed to sort out Remus first, but he had no idea what to say to him. They would sort it out eventually, he decided and stepped out into the corridor; he had a Quidditch team to manage.

* * *

><p>Lily woke up stiff and sore in the pale morning light, she rubbed her eyes and realised she was still in the armchair from the night before. She groaned and looked for where she had dropped her book; she had a vague memory of it sliding out of her hands.<p>

Strangely though it was on the table beside her, the pages had been smoothed out and there was a bookmark in it. She frowned and she realised that the Common Room had been cleaned and the fire rekindled; a house-elf had probably been round and tidied up. She had never seen one in over five years at Hogwarts, but apparently that was a good thing; she privately thanked whichever little creature had saved her book for her and made her way upstairs to go to bed properly. Sleeping in an armchair definitely wasn't good for your back.

* * *

><p>Severus Snape was in the library; it was a Sunday but he was following that Lupin boy, he had always known there was something odd about him and he didn't like the way Lily was hanging about with him. The tall, brown-haired boy hung out with Black and Potter a lot, but he never seemed to get involved; in anything.<p>

Severus had been watching him since he had noticed Lily with the Marauders. Had she finally given in to Potter's constant demands for attention? He couldn't bear the thought of Lily being with that… that arrogant, selfish, idiotic berk. So what if he played Quidditch? Severus had seen plenty of better people; that Ravenclaw, Quigley for one. He was good at Transfiguration; but that was just one subject. Some people thought he was funny; Severus hated his guts.

It had started years ago, on the train ride he and Lily had been looking forward to for ages. He had lost Lily on the platform and found her on the train with some boys in a carriage; Potter and Black had been two of the boys, and they had formed an instant and mutual dislike. Potter was obviously going to be one of those brawny idiots who thought everything could be solved with brute force and Black, who he thought would be better than that, had actually agreed.

Within the first few weeks Black had got into a fight with Avery and Potter had joined the fray so Severus had decided to help his housemate; he needed a boost in house where his half-blood status was looked down on. Then Potter and Black had made a point of hexing Severus every time they saw him and calling him stupid names, like _Snivellus_; every time he heard that he wanted to kill one of them.

Now though, he was writing a Potions essay for Slughorn on the properties and uses of Ferineal Philtres, but he was also watching Lupin who was acting a bit oddly. The last few days Severus hadn't seen him anywhere near Black and Potter; what would Lupin be doing on his own in the library at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning. He was apparently looking at Werewolf books too. Severus frowned to himself; they had done werewolves last year and weren't due to cover them any further until Seventh Year. Why would Lupin be looking at books like that now? Maybe it was something to do with some idiotic prank the Marauders were going to pull.

That would be just the kind of thing they would be funny; set a werewolf loose in the castle, or something insane.

* * *

><p>Sirius woke up late, showered and got dressed. His shoulders were a bit stiff after yesterday and he wondered where James was; he pulled a small handheld mirror out of his bedside table drawer and said clearly, 'Prongs.'<p>

The mirror surface rippled and after a few seconds his reflection was replaced by that of James, 'Alright mate? Where are you?'

'Quidditch Pitch; do you think you and Hannah would be able to pull off a Rompton Rocket?' James asked without any preamble; he was obviously looking at Quidditch moves.

Sirius frowned; it required a good amount of force and courage, to pull of something like that. Two Beaters from the same team would hit the bludgers at each other from close range and then ricochet them towards opposing players; usually a Keeper. You could almost double the speed of the bludgers on the ricochet and the Keeper would be forced to leave the hoops undefended or be likely hospitalised.

The likelihood of the Beaters simply hitting each other was quite high though if they didn't get the timing exactly right. Or, if they didn't get the ricochet spot on, then the chasers would be left completely open.

'With a decent amount of practise, yeah.' Sirius replied.

'Great!' James' face lit up, 'I'm going to see if we get the Reverse Pass working this season.'

'Alright, what time do you want us down there?'

'Oh, I'm going to come back and grab breakfast; get everyone down for eleven?'

'Sounds good, I'll grab everyone; see you in the Great Hall.'

* * *

><p>'Have you read this trash?' Laura said, throwing the Sunday Prophet down on the table in disgust.<p>

'What?' Alice asked in concern.

'This! It's ridiculous!' She was pointing at an editorial she had been reading, 'It's going on about how this Voldemort guy and his views on Purebloods getting privileges over Muggle-borns; it's actually implying he might be right!'

'You know there's rumours that Sagax; the Minister for Magic, is considering giving him a place on the Wizengamot.' Frank Longbottom said, leaning over from beside Alice.

'No!' Laura gasped, 'That's just stupid! They can't let extremists like him on the Wizengamot!'

'There's plenty of other people like him already on it.' Frank replied.


	15. Chapter 14, Suspicions

**Suspicions**

* * *

><p>'I think James is either a complete genius or completely mental.' Dorcas gasped, dropping into an armchair by the fire, 'Seven hours we were out there today, <em>seven<em>, and the season doesn't begin until October; we don't even know when the first match is yet.'

She had just got out of the shower and was still drying her hair with her wand.

'God, I don't think I'm ever going to be able to sit on a broom again…' Tommy Ransom said, shuffling painfully past, 'Pulling out of a dive like that really catches you in the-'

'Don't need to know, Tommy!' Dorcas called, before turning to back to Laura and Lily, 'I think we might be able to get the cup this year!' she whispered excitedly, 'James has about a hundred moves for us to learn, Sirius and Hannah are going to be incredible, George can even stop James scoring one on one, and Tommy… well, I swear he's going to kill himself, but I've never seen anyone like it!'

Lily watched the honest excitement on Dorcas' face and couldn't help but giggle; her opinion on Tommy being in the team had reversed so quickly that you would have thought she had been arguing with James for Tommy to be _on_ the team.

'What?' Dorcas said, perplexed.

'It's just…. You're so… enthused by the whole thing; it's just a game, Dorcas!' Lily said, still stifling giggles.

Dorcas frowned and Lily knew she'd said the wrong thing and started backpedalling, 'Oh, look, I'm really sorry! I know you really enjoy it, but you can't just fly around all day every day. You'll end up not being able to do any work.'

Dorcas' frown only deepened, 'You know what, Lily, I'm not sure why I bother to talking about this kind of stuff with you; you obviously don't care.'

Lily gaped at her, and the sudden change of mood.

'Is it because of me spending time with Potter? Seriously Lily, you need to get a grip; you're not in Second Year any more, he doesn't go around dumping goo in girls' hair anymore! He's a guy like any other, probably a lot better than most and you have this twisted little opinion that somehow Slytherins are better than us! You know what? I'm fed up with it!'

With that, Dorcas got up and walked away, going to sit beside Tommy Ransom and Sarah Huntly, both Fifth Years but they were on the Quidditch Team.

'Wow, tactful Lily,' Mary said as she sat down in the vacated armchair.

'H… What did I say?' Lily said, confused and hurt by Dorcas' sudden outburst.

'God, Lily; she gets back from, what was it? Seven hours of Quidditch practise. She's probably stiff, sore and exhausted, but she's got Potions and Arithmancy to hand in tomorrow and all you do is tell her that she's not doing enough work.'

Lily was affronted, 'I didn't scold her! I just-'

'And it's her, you know, Lily…' Mary finished, looking around to see if anyone was listening, before mouthing, '_Time of the month_.'

'I know! But that's no need for her to-'

'_I _didn't know you were on your period, Lily!' Black said loudly for the whole Common Room to hear, as he dropped over the arm of the sofa Laura and her were sitting on. He missed Lily, and landed spread out, his head in Laura's previously book filled lap, 'Alright, darlin',' he said winking up at her.

Laura grinned, but Lily caught Dorcas' baleful glare from across the other side of the Common Room; she had obviously just heard Black's comment and assumed they were talking about her.

Lily blushed as people stared at her and pushed Black's legs off her, snapping, 'Shove off, Black! Go and ruin someone else's life!'

It was Sirius' turn to look offended, 'Alright, Evans, no need to get shirty about it. Seems you're getting in enough arguments lately without Prongs or Snivellus' help.'

Lily's hackles rose, 'Just sod off, Black and go play with your little friends!'

He stood up, eyeing her strangely and picked up Laura's abandoned book for her, before walking away to join Potter and Pettigrew who seemed to be crouched over something in the corner by the window.

Lily huffed angrily; what was everyone's _problem_ today?

* * *

><p>Sirius sat down beside James and Peter, 'Merlin, Evans is in a good mood,' he said sarcastically, 'I wouldn't bother trying to go near her tonight, Prongs, she'll probably bite your head off.'<p>

'What's up with her?' James asked, looking across.

'No idea; first she has a go at Dorcas for playing Quidditch, then she has a go at me for sitting near them; like I've ever done anything to her!'

'Sitting on her,' Peter said quietly.

'Whatever,' Sirius replied dismissively, 'Anyway, I wouldn't waste your time tonight. Pete? Did you find anything in the library?'

'Yeah, I did actually!' Peter squeaked excitedly, then he blushed and cleared his throat before continuing in a slightly more normal voice, 'I found this; it's got loads of stuff about Pensieves in it.'

James showed Sirius the cover of the book, it read, _Memory Dissection: Pensieve Manipulation and Runic Values_.

'Merlin, I forgot there were runes involved; we're going to have to do some learning, should've have done runes for OWLs.' Sirius muttered.

* * *

><p>Lily watched as Sirius flopped down beside the other Marauders; they all looked across at her and Black waved a hand dismissively in her direction before they all started looking at something. Lily stood up; she wasn't going to be talked about behind her back, especially by Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew, who were probably planning some prank right now as well.<p>

She walked across and said, 'Hand it over,' sticking out her hand to receive whatever they had hidden away between them. She was suddenly very aware of a feeling of déjà vu, 'Yes, Black, you know I'm a Prefect.' She said before he could give some idiotic excuse.

James looked up at her, 'Lily, it's just Charms work,' he said quietly.

'Let's see it.' She demanded and surprisingly they all sat back out of the way, to reveal an old book on Pensieves; apparently they _were_ doing Charms work. She didn't put it past the Marauders to have bewitched it or something though, so she picked it up, tapped it with her wand and said, 'Reveal yourself,' in a commanding voice.

Peter stared at her wide-eyed, Black snorted and Potter looked away, shaking his head so she couldn't see his expression. Nothing happened to the book though, it just sat heavy in her hand. The Marauders couldn't actually be doing homework, could they?

She felt herself blush, realising that she just looked stupid and the whole Common Room was now watching what was about to happen next. Potter turned round to look at her and said, 'Evans, we're not always trying to pull stunts; we do work sometimes.'

'Oh, so you do actually work then?' she snarled, 'You don't just play Quidditch, hex people and mess up your ridiculous hair.'

'That's unfair, Lily.' He replied softly.

'Where's Remus?' she demanded.

* * *

><p>James watched as she stormed away, he hadn't even done anything and she had still had a go at him. There was something incredibly beautiful about her even when she was angry, but whatever emotion it had been that was shining out of her eyes had been unpleasant at best.<p>

Merlin, he wished he could walk after her, pull her back and simply hold her in his arms.

Peter brought him back to the present though, 'When are you guys going to talk to Remus?'

An ugly look flashed across Sirius' face, 'When he decides it's time to apologise.'

'And if he doesn't?' Peter asked bravely.

'We'll… we'll sort something out.' James muttered, not sure if he was talking to them or reassuring himself.

* * *

><p>Sirius was angry; Evans had just pulled the whole 'I'm such a Prefect martyr', she couldn't find Remus who was supposed to be on duty with her later apparently. Then she hadn't believed them when they said they didn't know where he was; accusing them of wasting her time.<p>

Women could be so infuriating; he wasn't sure how James could like her so much.

He had an idea, but he wasn't entirely sure. Yes, she was pretty. Yes, she had a fit body. Yes, she was a lovely girl most of the time. On the other hand though, she could be downright neurotic sometimes, and she far too rule-abiding for Sirius' taste.

Townley, however, she wasn't a Prefect and Sirius was thinking about meeting her later, not that she knew that. She would be in the library; Peter had overheard her telling a friend she needed to finish some Transfiguration questions.

He thought he might drop into the library and accidently find her.

'Guys, I'm going to go and see if I can find a girl,' He announced.

'Cool,' muttered James, obviously not really listening.

Peter muttered something too, but Sirius was already up and heading for the Portrait Hole.

A few minutes later he was nearing the library when he saw Remus step out and walk away down the corridor, seconds later Snape followed him, looking for all the world like he was stalking Remus. Sirius frowned, staying out of sight of his mate and the Slytherin.

Snape took the same corridor Remus did. Sirius followed.

Just as Snape was reaching into his robes, as though he was going to curse Remus from behind, Sirius called, 'Alright _Snivelly_?' as Remus disappeared around another corner. No Slytherin was going to hex his mate, whether he was pissed off with him or not.

Snape spun round, saw him and seemed to go slightly pale, 'Black,' he spat, 'following your little friend? A bit _predatory_ isn't it?'

Sirius wasn't sure if he had heard emphasis on the way Snivellus said "predatory", but something suddenly worried him. Why would Snape be following Remus?

He was interrupted as Snivelly whipped out his wand and shot a spell at him, it missed his face by inches.

'You little bastard!' he growled, drawing his own wand.

The next spell hit his shoulder though, tearing through his jumper and causing a large gash to appear just beside his collarbone. He roared in pain, blood spattering across the corridor wall, but Snape was already running; Snivelly never hesitated in making a quick exit.

Sirius' trip jinx caught him as he went round the corner and he crashed into the wall in a welter of flying robes. Sirius tried to follow, but his shoulder was bleeding badly, 'Next time, Snivelly!' he threatened as the boy scrambled to his feet and was gone. He gritted his teeth against the pain and headed back towards the library, pressing a hand over the cut. It wasn't that bad; Snape's curse had only just clipped him.

He walked into the library, staying away from the usual places Madam Pince could be found and started looking around the tables Ravenclaws generally used. A few minutes later he spotted her; she was with a friend and a small stack of books.

He smoothed his hair back, pressed his hand over his still bleeding shoulder and went in for the kill.

'Alright, girls?'

'Oh my God! You're bleeding!'

* * *

><p>Snape stopped running; it had been typical of Black to appear where he wasn't wanted and his anger had got the better of him. He thought he had an idea about Lupin; there was something off about him and the signs pointed towards something bigger. But everything he had on the Gryffindor Prefect could be explained away by fairly natural excuses.<p>

Tiredness; from hanging about with the _Marauders_ the whole time, day and night.

Disappearances every four or five weeks; apparently his mother was ill.

Looking ill himself when he reappeared; stress from seeing his mother and travelling.

But Snape had an idea, and he wanted to see if it was anywhere near the truth. He was prepared to wait though, and when the time was right, he would be able to put that arrogant Potter and his sneering sidekick back where they belonged. If he was right…


	16. Chapter 15, Behold, A Vision

**Behold, A Vision**

* * *

><p>'Look, Padfoot, we need to talk to him; we can't just show up.' James said urgently.<p>

'Yeah, we can.' Sirius replied, he was draped across a sofa and had his head in Lizzy Townley's lap. She was somewhat enamoured with him, James thought; wondering how long it might be before Sirius chucked the poor girl. She was stroking his hair and pretending she knew what they were talking about; Sirius had told her he refused to discuss Marauder business with her and apparently she was fine with that.

'Look, Padfoot, if we just show up he might snap and you know what happened last time he lost control.' James said, glancing at the pretty girl Sirius was leaning on.

'Yeah, this whole thing started.' He replied unconcernedly, staring up into Lizzy's eyes.

'Padfoot, I need your attention.' James commanded; Sirius obviously wasn't listening, 'Sorry about this, Lizzy.' He apologised and dragged Sirius away a little, cast a muffling charm and said, 'Look, Padfoot; we made a promise to help him, and I don't care what he's done; I'm not giving up on that. But we need to warn him we're going to be there, or someone could get hurt.'

'Alright, fine.' Sirius grumbled grudgingly, not meeting James' eyes.

'Ok. Merlin, Padfoot, it's been over two weeks; I can't believe we've abandoned him. This ends tonight.' James said, guilt rippling through him.

'He still hasn't apologised.' Sirius growled balefully.

'And he shouldn't need to.' James finished the conversation, 'Now go and play with your toys like a good dog,' he grinned.

Sirius tried to slap him, but James fended it off and pushed him back towards Lizzy, 'Look, I'll sort him out,' he said as he dismissed the charm surrounding them. He turned towards the Portrait Hole and decided to head to the library to find Remus; even if it took him all afternoon, no matter that he had scheduled a team practice. He was going to find his mate, tell him everything was fine and that they would sort out where they had all gone wrong.

Sirius' slap had told him a lot though; it was just too hard to be playful, and James knew Sirius was still angry.

* * *

><p>Lily was in the library, it was Saturday afternoon, but the weather outside looked like it was gathering for a storm and even in the library it was humid and hot. She was uncomfortable, despite only wearing a light blouse and her Transfiguration essay wasn't going well; methods and half remembered theories kept slipping in and out of her mind.<p>

She heard soft footsteps and James Potter walked straight past her as she looked up; he didn't even notice her apparently. She frowned after him, wondering what he could be doing; the Marauders had been acting oddly lately. She hadn't seen Remus with them in ages, and she remembered Alice's boyfriend saying something about them having a fight. They hadn't even been blamed for any of the curious incidents that always seemed to happen around Hogwarts; a Fifth year Hufflepuff had ended up in the Hospital Wing in hysterics after a Divination lesson where her crystal ball had lit up with visions of dragons, hellfire and world ruin. Peeves had been up to his usual 'jokes'; lacking subtlety and precision as always.

Indeed, she couldn't think of anything she could pin on the Marauders; Potter hadn't even asked her out since the Hogwarts Express, not that she wasn't happy about that. Life had been relatively quiet recently, almost… Lily hesitated to use the word, dull.

Dorcas wasn't really talking to her much lately; Alice said she was concentrating on Quidditch and work this year as she hadn't done as well as she hoped in her summer exams. Alice was working hard on everything she could; she wanted to apply to the Auror Academy after school. Laura was swanning about, doing her usual; just getting by on what work she could do and wondering when she might meet a rich boy so she could marry and not have to work. Mary seemed to share Lily's view; not that Lily had said anything, but Mary had complained last night that life was boring recently.

_"The Quidditch season hasn't started yet; the Marauders don't seem to be doing anything, and we have far too much work!" Mary complained, "Why can't something interesting happen? Even the Slytherins aren't doing anything. This school is just so boring!"_

_ Lily had hummed a non-committal reply, keeping an eye on the Marauders in the corner; they were crouched over something again. But she didn't want to go over after what had happened last time, when they had actually been doing Charms work._

_ Maybe they had just matured somehow over the summer; or maybe Remus' absence was affecting them._

Lily had no idea why the Marauders were acting oddly, but they had even been _nice_ recently; she had caught Potter holding the Portrait Hole open for a particularly small First Year to scramble through. Black had a new girlfriend, and surprise of all surprises; it had lasted more than a week, Laura and Alice were constantly talking about them and Laura had said wistfully, "Maybe he actually likes her…"

Lily stared at her barely started essay and decided that something was changing around the school. Maybe they were all just growing up. Maybe it was the stuff going on outside; political extremists seemed to be gathering, some kind of rally had apparently been held in the Quadrangle in Edinburgh and another in Diagon Alley.

She sighed and wondered where it was all leading; only yesterday morning she had read in the Daily Prophet that a member of the Wizengamot had died of a heart attack at his home in Kent. There was supposed to be some kind of memorial service over the weekend and then someone would be invited to take their place on the Wizengamot.

She suddenly realised that Potter; James _Potter_ had just walked past her; in the _library_. She knew he had a practice scheduled now; Dorcas had said. Curiosity got the better of her and she got up to follow him, to find out what he was doing.

* * *

><p>Remus was worried; it was Full Moon tonight, and he hadn't spoken to James and Sirius; Peter had promised to help, but Peter was, well… Peter. That wasn't the only problem though; he had a suspicion that Snape had been following him. Snape wasn't stupid, no matter what James and Sirius said in public; even they admitted he had a formidable array of curses and was obviously intelligent enough to beat Slughorn's high standards.<p>

Remus worried that Snape had found out. If he had… it was too cruel to imagine what could happen.

James suddenly appeared beside him and sat down at the table, Remus froze, 'Herbology, Moony? On a Saturday afternoon? That's a bit low isn't it?'

Remus didn't know what to say, but James had a smile in his eyes.

'Look, Moony; we've all got our problems, and I apologise. I shouldn't have expected you to just turn around and smile and say it's all great. It's been shit without you; Sirius keeps sneaking off with Lizzy and Peter's, well… he's Peter.'

James grinned at him, 'So, how about you chuck the Herbology, come and review our Quidditch Practice; then we'll all _potter _down to the Shack later and have a riot.'

Remus couldn't help but grin back; James always had that effect on people. He felt horribly guilty though; James shouldn't be apologising to anyone.

'No, Prongs; it's my fault,' he said, 'I shouldn't have blown up at you and I shouldn't have said those things to Sirius. And I've been regretting it ever since; it's bloody lonely without you guys, I guess I was just jealous. Sirius has all his girls; Peter's great but can be a bit dull; and you suddenly wanted to grow up. I just thought; where does that leave me…' he trailed off.

'Moony; we're never going to desert each other; you should know that by now.' James said seriously.

'Alright, am I forgiven?' Remus asked.

'Course you are; Marauders always come first.' James' whole face lit up with a smile this time and Remus suddenly knew he had his friend back, 'Padfoot's still on his high horse though, so give him a good bite later; that'll sort him out.'

Remus laughed and stashed away his essay; it would keep till tomorrow, 'Come on then, I heard Quigley worrying over some new move he'd seen you guys practising. Besides; you're late.'

* * *

><p>Two people watched them leave and two people drew completely different conclusions.<p>

* * *

><p>Lily understood what had been happening over the last few weeks; Padfoot, no, Black, was angry with Remus about something. Potter had just shown an extraordinary amount of maturity and sorted it out; though they were obviously planning something later at the 'Shack'. The only shack Lily could think of was the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade; but that was outside the school, and they couldn't possibly be going there.<p>

What in God's name had Potter been talking about when he said, "give him a good bite"; it was obviously some kind of slang they had. They were always talking in code about their stupid pranks. What intrigued her most was Remus' mention that James was going to "grow up" and that Remus had implied that he didn't want him to. That bit was perplexing, then she realised what she had just been doing and blushed, embarrassed at herself; she had just listened in on someone else's private conversation. She was supposed to be a Prefect.

* * *

><p>Snape walked away; obviously he had been completely wrong. Potter wouldn't go and meet up with his friend tonight; not if…<p>

What he had heard though gave him power; he would wait outside the Gryffindor Common Room, in the shadows until he saw them head off to wherever they were going and he would tell Slughorn or someone. That would serve them right; especially if he saw them going out of bounds. He'd heard something about a "shack"; knowing the Marauders, they were probably sneaking off to Hogsmeade.

Maybe he could get them suspended or even expelled! He narrowed his eyes and hurried away; getting one or all of them expelled would raise his status in Slytherin through the roof.

* * *

><p>At half past ten Sirius, muttered something about going to see Lizzy and left the Common Room. Remus ought to be heading down to the Whomping Willow about now; he looked out of a window but couldn't see anything.<p>

He'd head over to Ravenclaw Tower; see Lizzy for a good night kiss and meet up with James and Peter in the Entrance Hall, where they'd have the cloak. He strolled along the corridors, wondering if he had forgiven Remus, and if Remus had forgiven him; they hadn't spoken yet. He decided he wait until he saw what Remus was like to tonight; he always showed his true emotions when he transformed, Sirius didn't think he could help it.

He was on the fourth floor when he spotted someone looking out of a window; someone who looked suspiciously familiar and out of place. He inched quietly forward and realised it was Snape; and he was watching something.

Sirius glanced out of a window nearby, saw Remus and Miss Pomfrey walking across the lawns and almost cursed out loud; they were heading straight for the Whomping Willow.

* * *

><p>Later he would make up excuses about how he was angry with Remus, angry at Snape; that he didn't really know why he did it.<p>

But he did.

Something ugly had surfaced in him; something that had been suppressed for years, something cruel, something _Black_.

* * *

><p>He waited and watched as the swaying Willow suddenly froze and Remus disappeared from sight; Miss Pomfrey began walking back to the castle. He drew his wand, stepped forward into the moonlight shining across the corridor and said, 'Alright, Snivelly?'<p>

Snape spun round, but Sirius disarmed him before he could get anywhere near cursing him. Snape's wand clattered to the floor near Sirius' feet, but he didn't bother to pick it up, 'I'm going to tell you something, Snivelly, so pull your greasy hair out of your ears.'

Snape glared at him, his gaze flickering between the wand at Sirius' feet and the wand in Sirius' hand.

'There's a knot at the base of the Whomping Willow, just above the ground; if you press it the whole tree will freeze, not many people know that,' Sirius said conversationally, 'There's also a concealed tunnel among the roots; it leads out of the grounds. Now, I know you'd love to get us for something, so there's a free tip.'

Then his voice hardened, 'But if you ever curse me again, I'll kill you.'

Snape stared at him.

Sirius turned and walked away.

* * *

><p>James was in the dorm with Peter; he was watching out the window and waiting. He saw Remus go into the tunnel.<p>

He watched the moon for a few minutes, wondering how many other people were affected by its power. Then he froze as he saw a figure emerge from the castle and head towards the Willow; there was no mistaking the long black hair and when the Willow froze once more there was no mistaking the intention.

James turned and bolted for the door.

He didn't know how, he didn't care; he jumped halfway down the stairs into a surprised Common Room and shouldered open the Portrait Hole. He was halfway down the Entrance Hall stairs when he saw Sirius; his friend looked worried and James ran towards him.

James skidded to a halt.

'I… I told…Snape.' Sirius croaked through gritted teeth; he was as white as a sheet.

James' flushed face went pale, 'Padfoot?' he whispered, 'What have you done?'

Sheer terror coursed through his veins; Snape could be dead right now, Remus could be tearing him apart. _Remus_…

James began to run once more; across the Entrance Hall, pushing the door open, across the lawn. His heart was racing, his mind empty of everything but fear; not for himself, but for his friends, for what could happen to all of them if Snape reached the end of that tunnel.

Air burning in his lungs, he ran as fast and hard as he could. He didn't even stop to use his wand and press the knot at the base of the Whomping Willow; he simply ran on.

Adrenaline, instinct and Quidditch reactions carried him through; what they had tried several times as First Years; spending hours trying to touch the young tree, resulting in Davey Gudgeon nearly being blinded and leaving the school: he managed in seconds. He rolled into the base of the trunk and slammed his palm against the knot; the tree froze and dived into the tunnel, ignoring cuts, bruises and scrapes.

He raced along the uneven floor, praying to an unknown god; praying that Snape hadn't reached the end of the tunnel. Suddenly he came around a bend and saw Snape at the very end, 'SNAPE! SEVERUS! DON-'

A terrifying roar ripped through the rest of his words and something moved in the house beyond Snape.


	17. Chapter 16, Consequences

**Consequences**

* * *

><p>Remus shivered against the cold; he stood naked in the Shrieking Shack, waiting. He could see splinters of the moon through a boarded up window, and he could almost feel the tremors running up his spine already.<p>

He heard footsteps echoing from the tunnel downstairs and knew that the others had arrived; they would wait until the screaming stopped and then he might go down to meet them, or they would have to come up. Nothing was sure after the change, and he may or may not retain his human mind. Sometimes he could almost feel human; other times he would not be able to remember the entire night as he fought with the animal for control of his body.

He knew in his wolfish form he was a terrifying spectacle; he could remember the haunted looks on his friends' faces the day after they had first transformed to accompany him. He ended up as nothing resembling a human, in any way, other than fact he could still stand on two legs. The textbook pictures of the shaggy creature looked more like something between a great ape and a wolf more than a human; and the transformation was the most painful thing he had ever experienced.

He had to go through it every month.

Then the first tremor hit; he briefly saw the skin on his stomach ripple upwards as every muscle in his body cramped, seized and contracted viciously. He threw back his head and screamed his pain for anyone to hear.

* * *

><p>The boy's hands clenched involuntarily and the knuckles bulged, sharp cracks could be heard as his spine changed shape, his head began to lengthen and his canines grew into two inch fangs. He screamed and screamed as dense muscle suddenly rippled across his shoulders, his back broadened and shaggy, grey hair sprouted across his skin like needles. His screams deepened; becoming more animal and the pitch changed to a call that would echo around the landscape for miles if he so chose it to. His arms lengthened and the muscles in his thighs tightened, shortening to become more powerful than any human or wolf's. His eyes faded from amber to yellow, and a tufted tail sprouted from his lower back. He dropped onto his new limbs and snarled as his ears stretched painfully; a flood of new feelings and senses were dropped into his wolfish mind.<p>

The beast reared up once more, standing on its hind legs to reach a height of almost eight feet and it roared at the misery, the pain, the frustration and the anger of its life. Soon the note changed though; becoming smoother and a lone wolf howl echoed throughout the valley and off the hills about the castle and tiny village.

* * *

><p>James drew his wand as he ran; firing spells as he stumbled forwards, 'IMPEDIMENTA! IMPEDIMENTA! STUPEFY! STUPEFY!' were the first to come to mind.<p>

The first two hit the werewolf and it froze, pushing forward slowly as it fought the jinx. Snape turned as James shouted, 'YOU!' he shouted, apparently oblivious to the danger behind him. But an off target spell caught him in the chest. He collapsed to the floor.

James reached him and bodily lifted the unconscious boy in his arms; thinking bitterly, _if Lily could see me now_. Then again, she would most likely blame him for Sirius' actions. He stumbled back into the tunnel, as the growling grew behind him. Sirius appeared round the bend, horror on his face and shouted; James turned to see the beast bearing down on him. He transformed.

The stag and the werewolf collided with enough force to daze them both; the unconscious Slytherin only a metre or so behind Prongs. He charged forward again, trying to shake off the lights that were exploding across his vision.

Behind him he could hear a dragging sound; he slammed forward again, catching the werewolf in the chest as claws ripped across his shoulder. He hoped Sirius could get Snape away; he had never seen the werewolf like this, they had never met humans on their adventures. It wasn't Remus who was raking his claws across his chest; it was the real Moony, the other half that inhabited Remus' mind.

Blood flooded down his front legs, as even the stag's tough skin gave under nightmarish claws. He slammed forward again and again, and again, stubbornly forcing the beast back and away as his vision began to blur. Somehow thoughts came quite calmly, but the feelings began to fade; only the dull _thud_ of antler of flesh reached him. He didn't want to die, but at least he was helping someone.

What would Lily think?

Antler hit flesh with less force each time and a huge paw swung round into the stag's head like a hammer blow.

He had to hold the line; that was all.

What would Lily think?

* * *

><p>Sirius dragged Snape all the way to the end of the tunnel, where something of Moony's size couldn't reach. Peter arrived as he dumped Snape unceremoniously on the floor, 'Peter, go get help! Anyone! A teacher! Prongs is dying!' he shouted; they were beyond covering this up now.<p>

'But-' the boy protested.

'GO!' he yelled and transformed.

Padfoot raced back along the tunnel on sure feet; he knew this place like the back of his hand. The roaring ahead had stopped, and it galvanised him; Prongs either had the beast under control or he was… Padfoot didn't think, he just ran.

He rounded the corner.

The stag was sprawled at the end of the tunnel; Prongs wasn't moving. The werewolf was alternating between growls and breathy whimpers as it saw him; there was blood everywhere. Moony was bleeding from a dozen cuts and Prongs…

Padfoot did the only thing he could think off, he grasped one of the stag's back legs and began to pull. In his stag form James was over four hundred pounds of muscle and bone; Sirius was less than half of that but he braced himself and heaved. The great body inched towards him, sliding over rock and dirt, leaving a bloody trail in the darkness.

* * *

><p>Peter ran for all he was worth.<p>

He didn't know what had happened; James had suddenly run off, he'd followed as best he could and found Sirius carrying Snape, of all people, almost at the entrance to the Shack tunnel. Sirius had simply yelled for him to get a teacher. James was hurt.

Peter had obeyed.

He had only just reached the Entrance Hall, gasping and out of breath when Professor Dumbledore appeared, looking extremely worried, 'What's happened?'

'Remus… S… Snape' Peter gasped and pointed out of the doorway to the Whomping Willow.

Dumbledore was gone in a whirl of midnight robes.

* * *

><p>'Come on, Prongs. Wake up, wake up, mate! They can't find you like this; not like this. C'mon James,' Sirius couldn't think; he tried shaking his friend, tried slapping him, but how did you wake up an unconscious stag? There was blood all over both of them.<p>

Suddenly he remembered his wand.

He pulled it out of his robes and said, '_Enervate_,' the stag stirred and suddenly there was a bleeding James Potter lying in front of him. His eyes flickered and he was gone again.

'James! _Vulnera Sanentur, Vulnera Sanentur!_' but the wounds wouldn't close and for the first time in years, Sirius felt completely helpless, 'Help! Somebody help us! Help!'

The only sound he could hear was the howls echoing back from the tunnel.

James had cuts across his face and his shoulders and his arms and chest and they wouldn't stop bleeding. Beneath the dirt and blood he was getting paler every second.

'HELP!' Sirius yelled desperately, 'HELP US!'

Then Dumbledore was there; in an instant he took in Sirius and James. James Potter in an odd tangle of limbs across the floor; bleeding from a dozen cuts and gashes across his upper body. Sirius Black kneeling beside his friend; shaking and white, blood across his robes and strangely over his face, but it was James' blood.

Dumbledore's wand seemed to move of its own accord and something silvery flew out the end of it towards the castle end of the tunnel. Then James was floating on a stretcher and bandages were unfolding across his chest, 'This is beyond my skill to heal,' Sirius heard Dumbledore mutter and suddenly Dumbledore and James were disappearing back down the tunnel.

Sirius stumbled to his knees, 'Sir! Sir!' he called, but Dumbledore didn't seem to hear him.

Then he was out onto the lawns; Professor McGonagall was there, and Miss Pomfrey and Professor Slughorn.

'-been injured, do whatever you can. Horace, Mr Potter needs your help.'

Sirius stumbled and fell to his knees, beyond the range of the Whomping Willow; James was dying and he had caused it.

* * *

><p>The next hour became a blur as James was taken away, and a white-faced and shaking Professor McGonagall led Sirius to the Hospital Wing, where Snape was already in a bed. Peter was sitting, sobbing on another bed and Sirius didn't know what to say or do; he felt empty, as though someone had taken any emotion he could ever have and sucked it out of his body.<p>

McGonagall sat him on a bed, and Professor Dumbledore appeared, locking the door behind him as he entered. He strode down the ward, loose robes billowing behind him and he stopped in front of Sirius. Sirius looked up at the old Headmaster through emotionless eyes and said simply, 'It's my fault.'

'Mr Potter has been taken to St. Mungo's and his parents have been informed. Mr Black, I would like to know what you, Mr Potter, Mr Snape and Mr Pettigrew were doing in _that_ tunnel at full moon.' Dumbledore's tone was stern, but not angry.

Peter's sobs filled the empty silence and Sirius wondered what Moony was doing now; did he know what he had done? Did he know what Sirius had done?

He blinked at his Headmaster and said, 'It's my fault,' again, though it seemed as though he was listening to his own voice from far away.

'I… we figured out what Remus is years ago. Lately we had an argument, and I've found Snape following Remus a lot. I was angry at Remus for the argument, and we've never been friends with Snape. I…' Sirius swallowed, 'Earlier I found Snape watching Miss Pomfrey take Remus to the Willow to transform; he didn't know what was happening, but I told him how to get to the other end of the tunnel.'

'Where he met an almost fully grown werewolf.' Dumbledore muttered.

'I told James what I had done, and he went after Snape; he must have pulled him back at the last minute. But he… he was injured when I got down there.' Sirius finished, rather lamely; unable to tell Dumbledore what had really happened.

* * *

><p>'I believe Mr Black is telling us the truth,' Dumbledore said to Professor McGonagall, 'Though I feel there is something missing. James Potter wouldn't have run down there to fight a grown werewolf unless he knew how to combat one, or else was exceptionally brave. I do not doubt his knowledge of werewolves, or his bravery, but I feel that something is missing from this tale.'<p>

'What are you going to do?' McGonagall answered.

'I think the two most important things right now are keeping Mr Potter alive and keeping Mr Lupin's secret, a secret. I think we can say that Mr Snape was in the Forbidden Forest, as were the four boys; where they were attacked by a werewolf, to explain Mr Potter's injuries. Mr Potter fought the beast as the others called for help; we arrived in time to drive the beast off.'

'And Mr Potter?' McGonagall asked, fear and pity clinging to her voice.

'There is nothing we can do now but he will survive; it is in the hands of Poppy Pomfrey and the Healers of St Mungo's. He will, at least, be horribly scarred. I have no idea how his parents will react; they will, of course, need to know the true story and I fear that the rest of Mr Lupin's education and, indeed, life is in their hands. I feel you may want to talk to Mr Black, although having his best friend in such a state may be punishment enough. Mr Potter though, whether he lives or dies, deserves an award for Services to the School for exceptional bravery. Mr Snape will, of course, be sworn to secrecy.'

Wormtail scurried back through the crack in the Hospital Wing door which had been left ajar when the two Professors had gone outside. He changed back into his human form and went to tell Sirius everything he had heard.

* * *

><p>'Apparently they got attacked in the Forest.'<p>

'By what?'

'A werewolf.'

'No!'

'Yeah!'

* * *

><p>'Then Potter fights off this huge Chimera, saves Snape, and-'<p>

'That's ridiculous, when would Potter ever save Snape? Besides; we don't get Chimera in Britain.'

* * *

><p>'Just on the edge of the Forest, yeah, and now Potter's in St Mungo's; they're not sure he'll make it.'<p>

'Oh my God…'

* * *

><p>In light of what had happened, Dumbledore was surprised at the Potter's reaction; yes, they were surprised the boy who had stayed at their house several times was a werewolf, but it explained several things. They also knew that their son cared about his friends and as he seemed to be recovering, they would wait until they had spoken with him before deciding anything.<p>

Dorea Potter sat with tears streaming down her face beside her son's bed though; the claws would leave irreparable scars, but the Healers had discovered something even worse. There were clear bite marks round James' left ankle; the Healer-in-charge had come and told them that James would never be the same again. Though the man was obviously perplexed; the jaw size from the bite and the claw markings didn't add up to the same size of werewolf.

Snape had told him that Potter had been in on the supposed 'prank' Black had pulled, but Dumbledore doubted that. He had a shrewd idea that Black had acted alone, with little thought for the consequences and the others had merely been bystanders.

He'd make an announcement at breakfast, now that it seemed that Mr Potter might live.


	18. Chapter 17, Marauders Requiem

**Marauders' Requiem**

* * *

><p>The Common Room was strangely quiet. No one was in the mood to do anything; not while a Gryffindor was dying in St Mungo's.<p>

Remus sat by the window, staring out into the Sunday rain; he didn't know what to think or do. He should never have let the others near him.

Sirius was staring into the fire; he knew it was only a matter of time before the axe fell. He knew it now; he was rotten to the core, he couldn't escape being a _Black_.

Both boys looked haggard, tired and upset; but no one tried to talk to them. What did you say to someone whose friend was dying in hospital?

The remainder of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were huddled round a table and Tommy was trying to comfort a sobbing Sarah Huntly. Pettigrew had gone up to their dormitory earlier.

* * *

><p>Lily didn't know what to think.<p>

The Seventh Year Prefects had gone round each dorm, making sure people got up for Sunday breakfast. Everyone in the school had been there and Professor Dumbledore had stood up and announced that James Potter was in St Mungo's Hospital, that there had been a werewolf attack in the Forbidden Forest, that he had saved his friends and Severus Snape's life. But also that he was terribly injured.

Had James really saved Severus? People had craned to look at the remaining Marauders and Snape, but Snape had just looked sour and the Marauders weren't talking to anyone; more wrapped up in themselves than ever before.

Professor McGonagall had come in late in the morning and told everyone James was making a recovery. But after a werewolf attack…

A Ravenclaw Prefect who had been on late night duty had seen him taken into the Hospital Wing, and the rumour had spread that it looked like someone had attacked him with a meat cleaver. She knew from Defence Against the Dark Arts that werewolf wounds were cursed; there would be scars, terrible scars.

Would it be the same boy who came back? No longer handsome, but horribly disfigured? Scarred beyond recognition? Would he come back at all?

Lily couldn't bear to think about it, and suddenly she wondered if perhaps she had been too judgemental with James Potter in the past. He had saved Severus' life; he _hated_ Severus.

Maybe he wasn't the person she thought he was. Maybe… maybe…

Suddenly it was like there was something stuck in her throat, and her eyes grew hot. Then there were tears pouring down her face.

'Lily?' Mary asked hesitantly, 'what's wrong, Lils?'

'I…' she choked, 'I was always so horrible to him and now… now he's…' her voice left her and she broke down completely.

Mary dropped the book she had been pretending to read and hugged Lily hard, feeling her own eyes prickle as the reality that someone so close to them was so close to… to death. Laura had been crying all morning, and now even Lily seemed to have been affected.

* * *

><p>'Mum?'<p>

'Yes, darling?'

'I want to see the others; Remus, and Sirius, and Peter.'

Fear shone in his Mother's eyes.

'I need to.'

'Al…alright, darling.'

* * *

><p>The portrait hole opened and Professor McGonagall stepped through; people looked up, some fearful, some hopeful. Peter just stared.<p>

The silence was terrible.

Everyone was completely still.

'Mr Potter will be alright,' she spoke quietly, but everyone heard every word.

A few people grinned; a couple of girls began to sob again, over by the Quidditch Team Tommy Ransom said, 'I knew it!'

Nobody but Peter noticed both Sirius and Remus flinch at her words.

'Will Mr Black, Lupin and Pettigrew please come with me.'

* * *

><p>Sirius knew his life was over; he'd almost got his best friend killed. He was going to be expelled, he couldn't go back to his parents, James would disown him, he had already decided he would go and end his life somewhere quiet. It hadn't been a hard decision; it was like stating a fact.<p>

He'd despised his family for years; he was amazed it had taken him so long to realise he was a part of it no matter what he did. The best thing for all of them would for him to just disappear.

He'd go once McGonagall had finished talking to him. He'd take one of the passageways out of the school and head for the coast somewhere, somewhere with cliffs. His broom would carry him there and he could end it out of anyone's way.

* * *

><p>Remus could see his life unfolding in front of his eyes; thrown out of school, abandoned to whatever fate brought him, maybe even Azkaban. He should never have let them near him, never led them on.<p>

Once he was expelled he'd head for the hills; he'd go where real people couldn't find him. All he had ever done was bring a curse on his parents and they had never deserved that; they had been happy before he was born, maybe they could be happy again.

He knew now that there was no fighting what he was; last night had proved that. He had mutilated his best friend; James would be scarred for life, maybe even…

He couldn't think about it.

He'd barely known what had happened that morning, until Dumbledore had questioned him. Hazy memories came back; of blood, pain and the… the want for…

Thankfully he'd managed to patch himself up a bit before Miss Pomfrey came for him; the tell-tale antler marks were mostly gone. He heaved himself out of his chair, feeling terribly old and followed McGonagall to the Portrait Hole.

* * *

><p>The door to the Retlong Thorpeville Ward opened and three boys stepped inside, or rather two were pushed inside by a third. Peter was obviously playing nursemaid.<p>

Only Peter looked up at him though, and he stared in shock.

After what seemed like an age Remus looked up and he gasped.

Then Sirius too drew his gaze away from the floor.

They stood transfixed.

'_Prongs_?'


	19. Chapter 18, Absolution

**Absolution**

* * *

><p>The Healers couldn't understand it.<p>

The boy had been savaged by a werewolf; he had been brought in looking like a something you would expect to find in an abattoir or after a hippogriff attack.

Now he was awake. He was talking to his parents; his mother was clasping his hand and crying, even his father had tears in his eyes.

The most amazing thing was though; the lycanthropy test results had come back negative. There was a clear bite on the boy's leg, but the results were negative.

They had run the test five times.

Not only that, but the wounds were healing up already too. Werewolf inflicted wounds took weeks if not months to heal, even with the latest discoveries. Yet the boy now only had scarring on his face and the wounds on the rest of his boy had closed. Even the scarring was visibly fading each time they went in to check.

It was clearly a werewolf attack; Dumbledore said he had seen the beast, and the only a werewolf's claws could do that. But what they were seeing was impossible, a miracle, surely. The boy wasn't just going to live; he was going to make a complete recovery.

* * *

><p>'You throw a hell of a punch, Moony; three broken ribs, punctured lung, cracked jaw, splintered cheek bone as well as numerous lacerations across the upper torso.'<p>

James sounded like he was reciting a medical form, but there was a grin plastered across his face.

The three boys stared at him, they hadn't expected _this_.

His chest was swathed in bandages, but his face was completely clear of any of the dirt, blood and terrible wounds of the night before.

James sighed, 'You're going to have to come closer guys; I can't bloody well talk to you from over here, can I?'

'Prongs!' Sirius seemed to have found his voice and yelped, 'You're bloody well alive! How are you alive?' he came forward, awe written across his face.

'Why aren't you…?' Remus asked softly.

They gathered round his bed, 'All scarred?' James finished.

He lowered his voice, 'Werewolves only affect humans; that was the whole point of the Animagus thing you idiots. Remus would be able to play rough and we'd be fine, because we'd be animals.'

His eyes shone, 'Now, no hugging or kissing or anything! The ribs have only just been set, and it's a tad uncomfortable.'

Sirius barked laughter, his mood completely reversed; James was alright, he was okay, he was completely _fine_.

Even Remus couldn't help but grin, despite the turmoil in his mind.

James could see what was happening though; Sirius would adapt and go back to his usual ebullient self, perhaps a lesson learned; Remus would need convincing, need watching and encouragement. Peter; Peter just looked awed that they were all going to be alright.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, Sirius and Peter sat in the corridor outside; Remus, James and his parents were inside, talking.<p>

Sirius shook his head, 'Only James,' he said with a breezy laugh, 'Only James _bloody_ Potter could take on a werewolf and walk away.'

He suddenly wondered what the rest of the school was thinking, he vaguely remembered Evans sobbing on Mary MacDonald's shoulder. Did she…?

The door opened and Remus stepped out, there was a strange gleam in his eyes.

'You alright, Moony?'

'Yeah, fine… absolutely fine…' he muttered vaguely. He had the sort of dazed expression someone got when they were told everything they had ever known wasn't quite true.

He sat down beside Sirius and stared at the wall.

Sirius knew he would probably be taken in next, and the thought of seeing James' parents made his stomach turn. There was guilt there, terrible, knowing guilt of what could have happened to their son.

* * *

><p>Peter watched Sirius open the door slowly and step out, he sat down beside Remus.<p>

He didn't know what they had been told or what had been said, but both boys looked as though someone had hit them with Confundus Charms.

'I… did they?' Sirius asked Remus.

'Yeah…'

'And…?'

'It's fine, it's completely fine. They said it doesn't matter. They… they want... me and Mum and Dad to go over for Christmas.' Slow tears were rolling down Remus' face.

He'd never felt so grateful in his life; James' parents hadn't been angry at him, they hadn't shouted or told him he was liar, they had offered him and his parents something they hadn't had in years; company.

'Guess we'll be together then.' Sirius muttered, still uncomprehending that the Potters had forgiven him, said that it wasn't his fault. Charlus had almost mentioned his parents but James' Mum had given him a very pointed look; Sirius knew that they blamed his parents. There was something incredibly loving and sorrowful he had seen Dorea Potter's eyes when she looked at him; something he had never seen in his own mother's eyes.

* * *

><p>It was late on Monday evening, the Marauders had disappeared yesterday for a few hours with McGonagall and reappeared looking somehow, older. Lily assumed it was seeing James in Hospital, she wondered when he would be coming back. The Marauders said he was "getting better".<p>

That was all though, just "getting better". People asked questions:

"Was he scarred?"

"Did he still look the same?"

"When would he be coming back?"

"Would he be coming back?"

The Marauders had replied with one answer; "He's getting better."

She wondered if she'd ever see him again; she felt so guilty of what she had thought of him. She'd always assumed that behind the smart-arse attitude and profound talent at hexing people, there simply lay a coward who shouldn't have been in Gryffindor.

How wrong she had been. She vowed that she would give him a chance if ever she saw him again. No matter what he came back like, she'd wipe the slate clean and start over. No matter what.

Lily had seen Severus earlier in Potions; she had tried to talk to him, but he had ignored her. Not responding to her questions of "Are you alright, Sev?"

The Portrait Hole opened and she looked up from her Defence questions, it was boy coming in late. She went back to her essay, and suddenly gasps broke out across the Common Room and then there was a roar of noise.

'JAMES!'

'POTTER!'

'YOU'RE ALRIGHT!'

'HOW THE HELL?'

Lily jumped and looked up to see a crowd forming around the boy who had just walked in. There was no doubt, even under the mob of the Quidditch Team, girls and other years; it was James Potter, whole, entire and perfect.

He was ruffling Tommy Ransom's hair, clapping George Hill on the back, hugging Dorcas, swinging little Sarah Huntly round; she was crying again and shaking hands with Frank Longbottom before he pulled him into a manly hug. Lily looked round and saw the three Marauders; lounging at the bottom of the stairs to the boy's dormitories, Peter standing on the third step, pleasure shining through his whole expression. Black was on the right, leaning back against the wall; something in his usually unreadable face spoke of something similar to awe. Remus, on the left, arms crossed over his chest just looked as though he had never been as content with his life as of this moment.

Someone loomed over her; she looked up at hazel eyes.

'Hi, Lily.'

She didn't know what to say.

'Hi.'

'Look, I'm sorry about everything over the years-'

Lily stood up and hugged him.

* * *

><p>James rocked back on his feet with the force of the hug, but he regained his balance, and slowly, tentatively hugged her back. It took him several seconds to realise she was crying and he heard, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' whispered again and again.<p>

Then everyone else in their year was around him, in one huge hug. Sirius was grinning at him over Lily and Remus had an arm around him and Laura. Peter was in the middle, somewhere between Alice and Mary.

Suddenly Dorcas came tearing across the room and joined them at speed, and the whole lot of them overbalanced in a burst of laughter, gasps of fright and joyous tears.

'Enough! Enough!' James shouted as he landed on a sofa, 'I've only just been repaired!'

There was more laughter and then people were gathering round to hear the story. James couldn't forget Lily's reaction though; never in five years had she ever willingly touched him and now she hugged him. He didn't think he'd ever forget that moment.

Maybe the slate was clean. Maybe they could start over.

People were gathering round though, he was sat on the sofa and everyone wanted to hear the tale. He gave Remus the smallest of glances and Remus returned him the smallest of nods.

He took a breath and began a finely edited version of events, tuned to the version that Professor Dumbledore had told. Lily was sat next to him, wedged between him and Sirius.

He told of them the Forbidden Forest by night, of a vicious attack, of staying behind to hold off the beast, and of falling unconscious as Dumbledore arrived. He told them in a subdued tone, with no pride, no extraneous detail and almost no emotion.

His audience listened, spellbound as he spoke clearly, but quietly, looking down at his hands.

He finished with his list on injuries that had been miraculously healed, then he got up, pleaded exhaustion and turned to go to bed. He noticed that somewhere in the midst of the story, Remus had disappeared, he also noticed as he stood up the burning emotion in Lily Evan's eyes. What that emotion was, he couldn't tell, but he could hope.

For the moment, he was simply glad to be alive; he would wait to see what, if anything, had changed. It wasn't even October yet; he had the whole year to simply be alive.


End file.
